Henri III, King of France

Hieronymus (Jerome) Wierix

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

When Henri appeared in public after he arrived in Venice in July 1574, the magnificence of his dress was a subject of great interest. Although this print was made about a decade after his visit, the verse along the bottom alludes to the king’s virtues and handsome bearing. Henri was equally famous for his elegant dress and for his relationships with both sexes. The fastidious rendering of his features here conveys an impression of calm authority that was important in the construction of his identity as a monarch. The printed frame suggests that the engraving could be pasted to a more durable surface or pinned to the wall. Two prints in the collection show his entry (59.570.432 and 2015.53).

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