Two Roman Soldiers

Two Roman Soldiers

Augustin Pajou

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This sheet was made by the French sculptor Augustin Pajou while he was a pensionnaire at the French Academy in Rome between 1752 and 1756. Executed in fluid pen and wash, it depicts two Roman soldiers, one carrying a vase, the other a shield. According to the inscription, it was based on a work by Polidoro da Caravaggio (Italian, Caravaggio ca. 1499–ca. 1543 Messina), presumably one of his all’antica façade decorations in Rome.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Two Roman SoldiersTwo Roman SoldiersTwo Roman SoldiersTwo Roman SoldiersTwo Roman Soldiers

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.