Equestrian Statue of King Charles I at Charing Cross

Wenceslaus Hollar

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Among the significant seventeenth-century printmakers, Hollar's technical virtuosity and ability to render things, places, and people with astonishing detail and truthfulness has been highly regarded since his lifetime. The subject matter of his vast corpus of prints runs the gamut from small images of butterflies, shells, and muffs to panoramic views of cities. This etching represents represents the equestrian statue of Charles I by created by Hubert LeSueur in 1633. The sculpture currently stands in Charing Cross in London. The inscription at the bottom of the print mentions that the statue, which had been hidden during the period of the English Civil War and the Interregnum, was given to Charles II when the monarchy was restored. Thus the print must date to 1660 or not long after that.

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