Satyrs and Nymphs; verso: partial counterproof of Heintz's "Studies for the Flight into Egypt" in The Courtauld Gallery, London

Satyrs and Nymphs; verso: partial counterproof of Heintz's "Studies for the Flight into Egypt" in The Courtauld Gallery, London

Joseph Heintz the Elder

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This drawing is a rare and outstanding example of Joseph Heintz the Elder's mature and most elaborate drawing style. Related to one of Heintz's most important paintings, made in 1599, probably for Emperor Rudolf II (Alte Pinakothek, Munich), the sheet is typical of the work of artists active at Rudolf's Prague court, who favored complex compositions with many figures in distorted positions and mythological subjects, often of a slightly lascivious nature. Combining fluent yet expressive pen lines, carefully applied heightening with white body color, red chalk, and washes, Heintz masterfully succeeded in adapting his composition to an oval form. Although there seems to be no direct literary source for the subject of this drawing and the corresponding painting, it has been connected to the story of Pan and Syrinx in Ovid's Metamorphoses.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Satyrs and Nymphs; verso: partial counterproof of Heintz's "Studies for the Flight into Egypt" in The Courtauld Gallery, LondonSatyrs and Nymphs; verso: partial counterproof of Heintz's "Studies for the Flight into Egypt" in The Courtauld Gallery, LondonSatyrs and Nymphs; verso: partial counterproof of Heintz's "Studies for the Flight into Egypt" in The Courtauld Gallery, LondonSatyrs and Nymphs; verso: partial counterproof of Heintz's "Studies for the Flight into Egypt" in The Courtauld Gallery, LondonSatyrs and Nymphs; verso: partial counterproof of Heintz's "Studies for the Flight into Egypt" in The Courtauld Gallery, London

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.