The Three Christian Heroines (Drei Gut Kristin), from Heroes and Heroines

The Three Christian Heroines (Drei Gut Kristin), from Heroes and Heroines

Hans Burgkmair

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

At left, Saint Helena wearing the imperial crown and holding up a cross; at center, Saint Brigit holding a processional cross; at right, Saint Elisabeth with a stein. Below, three coats of arms. From a series of six woodcuts with Heroes and Heroines, each with three figures.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Three Christian Heroines (Drei Gut Kristin), from Heroes and HeroinesThe Three Christian Heroines (Drei Gut Kristin), from Heroes and HeroinesThe Three Christian Heroines (Drei Gut Kristin), from Heroes and HeroinesThe Three Christian Heroines (Drei Gut Kristin), from Heroes and HeroinesThe Three Christian Heroines (Drei Gut Kristin), from Heroes and Heroines

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.