Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, from "Illustrated London News"

William Luson Thomas

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Gilbert, a prolific illustrator for the "Illustrated London News," depicts the closing moment in the troubled life of Mary, Queen of Scots at Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire. She had been imprisoned at various locations for over 18 years, found guilty the previous year of treason and was beheaded on February 8, 1587. Seated holding a large crucifix she listens intently to the reading aloud of her death warrant signed by Queen Elizabeth I; to the right her executioner waits, leaning on his axe. The print was later republished in the French weekly newspaper "L'Univers Illustré" on October 3, 1861.

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