A Columbine or Granny's Bonnet (Aquilegia), with Additional Studies of Flowers

Pieter Holsteyn II

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This representation of a pink columbine (genus acquilegia), with individual blooms of different colors in the lower part of the sheet, probably once belonged to an album commissioned by either a merchant or collector of flowers. The production of such albums formed a significant part of Holsteyn’s output. An intact example of 122 sheets bearing the artist’s monogram is in the Lindley Library of the Royal Horticultural Society. Another, comprising 42 images by Holsteyn of different cultivars of tulips, was sold in 2002 (Christie’s London April 11, 2002, lot 697). Various loose sheets are known; some of these could well have belonged to the same group as the present work (see, for example, the Greek Valerian sold at Christie’s London, December 6, 2012, lot 118, and two drawings—one representing three violets, the other a viola—sold at Sotheby’s New York, February 1, 2013, lot 614). All of these works exhibit Holsteyn’s fine brushwork, here especially evident in the subtle striations of the petals. (JSS, 8/24/2018)

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