L'Innominato, from "Illustrated London News"

L'Innominato, from "Illustrated London News"

William Luson Thomas

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This print reproduces Guardassoni's painting of 1856 (Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan) and represents a pivotal moment in the historical novel "I Promessi Sposi" (The Betrothed, 1827) by Alessandro Manzoni. We here witness the conversion of L’Innominato (unnamed man), who has kidnapped Lucia, the betrothed of the title, at the behest of the evil Don Rodrigo. After listening to a sermon by Cardinal Federico Borromeo, l’Innominato decides to defy the powerful, evil men whom he has served, and escort Lucia back to her home village. These actions eventually bring about the downfall of Don Rodrigo. The skilled wood engraver William Luson Thomas made the print for the "Illustrated London News" in 1862. Founded in 1842 as the world’s first weekly news magazine, the periodical regularly published examples of contemporary art.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

L'Innominato, from "Illustrated London News"L'Innominato, from "Illustrated London News"L'Innominato, from "Illustrated London News"L'Innominato, from "Illustrated London News"L'Innominato, 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.