A Duet

Anonymous, British, late 18th–early 19th century

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This satire of two musicians may represent the viol da gamba player Carl Friedrich Abel (or possibly Johann Christian Bach), and the flautist Johann Christian Fisher. The image is similar to Henry William Bunbury's "Concerto Spirituale" (see 17.3.888-219 and 17.3.888-222).

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