Self-Portrait, from "The Iconography"

Self-Portrait, from "The Iconography"

Anthony van Dyck

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In this lively "Self-Portrait" of about 1640, Anthony van Dyck masterfully etched his rakishly turning head with the spontaneity and fluidity found in his drawings and merely suggested the rest of his body through the sketchy but deftly placed lines indicating his neck and collar. Together with the other prints in his "Iconography"—a portrait series depicting approximately one hundred famous nobles, scholars, and especially artists—Van Dyck's "Self-Portrait" enlivened this established genre with its fresh and original depiction of the sitter. The plates to the "Iconography," of which fifteen were executed by Van Dyck and the remainder by nine hired printmakers, underwent modification and reprinting many times over the centuries; fortunately, early states of those etched by Van Dyck himself survive, such as this first state of the "Self-Portrait." Evident in later editions of the "Iconography," the engraver Jacques Neeffs completed the composition with a sculptural bust and pedestal—whether or not this was Van Dyck's intention remains unknown.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Self-Portrait, from "The Iconography"Self-Portrait, from "The Iconography"Self-Portrait, from "The Iconography"Self-Portrait, from "The Iconography"Self-Portrait, from "The Iconography"

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.