William Dugdale (Gulielmus Dugdale) (from "The Antiquities of Warwickshire Illustrated," London, 1656)

William Dugdale (Gulielmus Dugdale) (from "The Antiquities of Warwickshire Illustrated," London, 1656)

Wenceslaus Hollar

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Portrait of William Dugdale; half length, almost full face; siting at a table in a coat with fur cuffs and a small white collar; wearing a broad-brimmed hat; his right hand holds a rolled MS on the table; to the left a copy of 'Monasticon Anglicanum' and 'The Antiquities of Warwicksh: illustrated', and an ink well with pen and knife; behind shelves with documents and seals; arms and his crest, a griffin head with wings, in upper corners; frontispiece to Dugdale's 'The Antiquities of Warwickshire Illustrated'.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

William Dugdale (Gulielmus Dugdale) (from "The Antiquities of Warwickshire Illustrated," London, 1656)William Dugdale (Gulielmus Dugdale) (from "The Antiquities of Warwickshire Illustrated," London, 1656)William Dugdale (Gulielmus Dugdale) (from "The Antiquities of Warwickshire Illustrated," London, 1656)William Dugdale (Gulielmus Dugdale) (from "The Antiquities of Warwickshire Illustrated," London, 1656)William Dugdale (Gulielmus Dugdale) (from "The Antiquities of Warwickshire Illustrated," London, 1656)

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.