Aeneas and Mercury (from "The Works of Virgil: Containing his Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis," 1697)

Aeneas and Mercury (from "The Works of Virgil: Containing his Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis," 1697)

Wenceslaus Hollar

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

1 of 30 illustrations etched by Hollar for an edition of The Aeneid. In a square in Carthage, Mercury approaching Aeneas from the air, warning him to leave the city; Ascanius and a middle-aged man standing by at right; stone mason working at centre foreground, workmen shovelling stones and carrying stone blocks at left, others working on buildings in background; statue of Diana in a niche at right; coat of arms below image at centre.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Aeneas and Mercury (from "The Works of Virgil: Containing his Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis," 1697)Aeneas and Mercury (from "The Works of Virgil: Containing his Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis," 1697)Aeneas and Mercury (from "The Works of Virgil: Containing his Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis," 1697)Aeneas and Mercury (from "The Works of Virgil: Containing his Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis," 1697)Aeneas and Mercury (from "The Works of Virgil: Containing his Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis," 1697)

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.