William Shakespeare

Illman and Sons

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This engraved book illustration is based on the Chandos portrait of Shakespeare, a painting with a good claim to have been made during he subject's lifetime. Once owned by the Duke of Chandos, the painting later became the first to enter London's National Portrait Gallery in 1856. The subject wears a beard and mustache, plain doublet, soft white collar, and an earring. Some believe the original to have been painted by John Taylor, the actor and painter-stainer who was its first recorded owner; others think it was made by Shakespeare's friend the actor Richard Burbage.

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