The Death of Christopher Columbus, from "Le Monde Illustré"

The Death of Christopher Columbus, from "Le Monde Illustré"

Henry Linton

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Linton's wood engraving published in a Paris periodical reproduces a canvas by the French academic painter Robert-Fleury. In the 1840s the artist had painted "The Reception of Christopher Columbus by King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella of Spain in Barcelona," and "Christopher Columbus received by the Spanish Court" (Musée du Luxembourg). Here, a decade and a half later, he shows the famous explorer at the end of his life. The painting was shown in a 1860 exhibition of modern paintings from private collections held at 26, Boulevard des Italiens. Other artists included were Bonington, Delacroix, Rousseau, Isabey, Meissonier, Millet, Corot and Ingres, and it is interesting that this work was chosen to represent the exhibition.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Death of Christopher Columbus, from "Le Monde Illustré"The Death of Christopher Columbus, from "Le Monde Illustré"The Death of Christopher Columbus, from "Le Monde Illustré"The Death of Christopher Columbus, from "Le Monde Illustré"The Death of Christopher Columbus, from "Le Monde Illustré"

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.