The doctors of the church consulting books and documents and contemplating the Virgin who is shown above in heaven, flanked by angels, after Reni

The doctors of the church consulting books and documents and contemplating the Virgin who is shown above in heaven, flanked by angels, after Reni

William Sharp

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

After a painting by Reni which was owned by Robert Walpole and located at Houghton Hall untill it was sold to the Imperial Collection of Russia in 1779.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The doctors of the church consulting books and documents and contemplating the Virgin who is shown above in heaven, flanked by angels, after ReniThe doctors of the church consulting books and documents and contemplating the Virgin who is shown above in heaven, flanked by angels, after ReniThe doctors of the church consulting books and documents and contemplating the Virgin who is shown above in heaven, flanked by angels, after ReniThe doctors of the church consulting books and documents and contemplating the Virgin who is shown above in heaven, flanked by angels, after ReniThe doctors of the church consulting books and documents and contemplating the Virgin who is shown above in heaven, flanked by angels, after Reni

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.