Umbrella pines in the Villa Borghese, Rome

William James Müller

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A leader of the Bristol School, Müller was known for a free expressive manner shaped by the watercolors of John Sell Cotman. After traveling to Greece and Egypt in 1838–39, the artist returned to Britain via Italy. This fresh watercolor records a scene encountered in the gardens of the Villa Borghese or Villa Chigi, with the artist’s distinctive dry brushwork applied to describe foliage. Müller’s fascination with the distinctive shapes of trees is evident here, although he may not have been aware that Roman pines had actually been introduced to Italy from Africa. Even though he had visited more exotic locales, his first exhibited watercolor after reaching home would be a view of Lake Albano, near Rome.

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