Mary, Queen of Scots

Thomas de Leu

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

According to Labanoff, this is the sixth state of Thomas de Leu's portrait (no. 126). The plate was extensively reworked for the fifth state, which was included in the third volume of Dreux du Radier's "L'Europe illustre, contenant l'histoire abrégée des souverains...," published by Odieuvre between 1755-65. The sixth state, dating from the second half of the 18th century, differs greatly from the first state, published by de Leu between 1570 and 1612. The face has been reworked, the inscription removed from the border, and the pedestal added to the bottom.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art