Fireworks on the Schiessplatz, Nuremberg, June 22, 1665

Fireworks on the Schiessplatz, Nuremberg, June 22, 1665

Georg Carl Hornung

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Nuremberg was the fireworks capital of the German states, and this before-and-after print may have had a didactic purpose, demonstrating the effects of different devices and artillery. Besides rockets, Roman candles, and Catherine wheels, there is a sort of billboard at the left, illustrating the story of the rich man and poor Lazarus, while at the right an open hell mouth reveals one of the damned and a devil inside.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Fireworks on the Schiessplatz, Nuremberg, June 22, 1665Fireworks on the Schiessplatz, Nuremberg, June 22, 1665Fireworks on the Schiessplatz, Nuremberg, June 22, 1665Fireworks on the Schiessplatz, Nuremberg, June 22, 1665Fireworks on the Schiessplatz, Nuremberg, June 22, 1665

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.