Landscape containing "Seven Secretly Hidden Silhouettes"

Friedrich Ludwig Neubauer

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

During the French Revolutionary wars, Frankfurt was occupied by French troops for two months in 1792. This puzzle print was likely published soon after by an engraver who lived in the city and challenges the viewer to find hidden profiles of German and French royal figures. The air of secrecy reflects the uncertainly of that time. At center, a generalized royal portrait (evoking the Holy Roman Emperor to whom the city was loyal) sits on a rocky pedestal. Above, an eagle holds a banner that invites the viewer to "Suchet so wirdet ihr Finden" (Seek and Ye Shall Find). Hidden amongst the trees at left are profiles of the Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich II, Prince Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia, and the Electors of Mainz, Trier and Cologne. At right are the profiles of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette of France, described in the text as "unlucky." In 1792 they had been arrested and imprisoned and in 1793 went to the guillotine in January and October respectively.

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