Portrait of the Artist Johann Christian Reinhart

José de Madrazo

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

From 1810-1813 Madrazo worked in Rome where he met the German artist Johann Christian Reinhart (1761-1847). He etched several portraits of him of which this is the most striking. This is a proof impression (before letters). The impression in the Museo del Prado, Madrid is lettered along the bottom ‘José de Madrazo pinto et sculp aqua fort’. What must be a preparatory drawing for the print is in a private collection in Guadalajara. A painting by Madrazo of Reinhart that comes close to the print is in the Galleria dell' Accademia di San Luca, Rome. On the subject of Madrazo’s prints and his time in Rome, see Gloria Solache, ‘José de Madrazo y la práctica del aguafuerte durante su estancia en Roma (1810-1813). Estampas Inéditas y su proceso creative, Boletín del Museo del Prado, XXV, 2007, pp.84-96 (cat.no.7, this print). Regarding the preparatory drawing, see 'Les Élèves espagnols de David', exhbt. Cat., Musée Goya, Castres, 1989 (no.83) and the related painting: I. Feuchtmayr, 'Johann Christian Reinhart', Munich 1975, (no.11).

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