Maximilian as Commander-in-Chief; and Maximilian Conversing in Seven Languages; with Portraits of Emperors and Kings (Maximilian's Forerunners), from the Arch of Honor, proof, dated 1515, printed 1517-18

Maximilian as Commander-in-Chief; and Maximilian Conversing in Seven Languages; with Portraits of Emperors and Kings (Maximilian's Forerunners), from the Arch of Honor, proof, dated 1515, printed 1517-18

Albrecht Altdorfer

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The scenes of Maximilian's private life are by Albrecht Altdorfer; the busts of emperors and kings are by Hans Springinklee; and parts of decorative columns are by Springinklee or Wolf Traut after Albrecht Dürer.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Maximilian as Commander-in-Chief; and Maximilian Conversing in Seven Languages; with Portraits of Emperors and Kings (Maximilian's Forerunners), from the Arch of Honor, proof, dated 1515, printed 1517-18Maximilian as Commander-in-Chief; and Maximilian Conversing in Seven Languages; with Portraits of Emperors and Kings (Maximilian's Forerunners), from the Arch of Honor, proof, dated 1515, printed 1517-18Maximilian as Commander-in-Chief; and Maximilian Conversing in Seven Languages; with Portraits of Emperors and Kings (Maximilian's Forerunners), from the Arch of Honor, proof, dated 1515, printed 1517-18Maximilian as Commander-in-Chief; and Maximilian Conversing in Seven Languages; with Portraits of Emperors and Kings (Maximilian's Forerunners), from the Arch of Honor, proof, dated 1515, printed 1517-18Maximilian as Commander-in-Chief; and Maximilian Conversing in Seven Languages; with Portraits of Emperors and Kings (Maximilian's Forerunners), from the Arch of Honor, proof, dated 1515, printed 1517-18

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.