Portrait of Gideon a Laudohn, Nobbleman of Livonia (Latvia)

Johann Esaias Nilson

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Print with a portrait of Ernst Gideon, Freiherr von Laudon (1717–1790) honoring his accomplishments on the battle field. The half-length portrait of Gideon is presented in an oval frame with a motto placed in a rocaille cartouche at the top. Below the frame two male figures are depicted shaking hands. Around them, armorial attributes are heaped together to form a trophy and on the left side a Victory figure holds up a laurel wreaths and blows on a horn to mark victory.

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