Head of a Bearded Man

Anonymous, Bohemian, 14th century

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Few Medieval drawings survive. This very refined and unusually well-preserved study was probably created by an artist in the immediate circle of the court of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles IV (r. 1355-78) at Prague. The sheet was probably made as an exemplar in a modelbook rather than as a preliminary study for a specific work. The bearded man with an intent gaze and portraitlike presence evokes a biblical patriarch, prophet, or apostle. The meticulous artist delicately outlined the figure with a fine pen and added modelling with the tip of the brush. Although working on a relatively small scale, the artist achieved a stunningly sculptural conception of form.

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