David Brought Before Saul, from "The Art Journal," opposite p. 100

David Brought Before Saul, from "The Art Journal," opposite p. 100

Samuel S. Smith

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This print was published in a London periodical to publicize the December 1867 winner of the Royal Academy Schools gold medal for best historical painting (now private collection). Louisa Starr was the first woman to be officially admitted to the schools and also the first to win a gold medal. Her Old Testament subject treats the passage: "And as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand" (1 Samuel 17:57). Contemporary critics noted, "the artist acted wisely in not loading [the image] with numerous figures and accessories," and praised its tone and color.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

David Brought Before Saul, from "The Art Journal," opposite p. 100David Brought Before Saul, from "The Art Journal," opposite p. 100David Brought Before Saul, from "The Art Journal," opposite p. 100David Brought Before Saul, from "The Art Journal," opposite p. 100David Brought Before Saul, from "The Art Journal," opposite p. 100

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.