The Ivory Carver, from "Illustrated London News"

The Ivory Carver, from "Illustrated London News"

William James Linton

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A bearded man in Renaissance garb kneels in thanksgiving before a crucifix he has just completed as angels approach and demons retreat. Published with a poem by Charles Boker, the image was designed by Wehnert who was born in London to German parents. After studying at Göttingen University he went to Paris to train as an artist, then lived on the island of Jersey and tutored the young John Everett Millais. When the latter moved to London, Wehnert followed, joined the New Society of Painters in Watercolours and exhibited works influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites, including several German Reformation-era subjects. He also became a successful illustrator of poetry, literature and fairy tales. The religious intensity and carefully researched historical setting of "The Ivory Carver" are both typical of the artist's work, and the composition was engraved by his close friend Linton for the "Illustrated London News."

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Ivory Carver, from "Illustrated London News"The Ivory Carver, from "Illustrated London News"The Ivory Carver, from "Illustrated London News"The Ivory Carver, from "Illustrated London News"The Ivory Carver, from "Illustrated London News"

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.