William Shakespeare

John Cochran

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Engraved to illustrate Wivell's "Inquiry into the History of the Shakespeare Portraits" (1827), this image of the Bard derives from the Felton picture (Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington DC), a painting that appeared at auction in 1792 and was purchased by Mr. S. Felton of Drayton, Shropshire. The initials "R.B.," found on the back were interpreted as those of Shakespeare's friend the actor Richard Burbage, and the work's authenticity affirmed by the scholar George Steevens. When this engraving was made the painting belonged to John Nichols and was lauded as the source of Martin Droeshout's famous engraving in the First Folio (1623). Today, the Felton picture is no longer thought to have been made during Shakespeare's lifetime.

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