Curator Jeff L. Rosenheim showcases the first daguerreotypes made of a total solar eclipse, by photographers William and Frederick Langenheim.

Artist Dia Batal reflects on a Syrian tile panel with calligraphic inscription in this episode of The Artist Project.

The Department of Musical Instruments announces the closure of its galleries for a yearlong renovation project, and invites readers to stay in touch with the department across a number of digital channels.

One hundred and forty years ago today, The Metropolitan Museum of Art made its first purchase of works of art—a group of 174 European old master paintings that became known as the "Purchase of 1871."

Metropolitan Museum conservator Rachel Mustalish makes discoveries beneath the surface of this 1906 drawing, including a link to Pablo Picasso's iconic portrait of Gertrude Stein.

"Does a collector ever stop collecting?" Leonard A. Lauder on Juan Gris's "Still Life with Checked Tablecloth."

"Creating the Cloisters," the spring issue of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin written by curator Timothy B. Husband, is an engaging and nuanced narrative of the early history of The Cloisters. As a complement to that narrative, I'd like to review the more recent gallery renovations and reinstallations that have been undertaken, all guided by the principle of maintaining the integrity of the original architectural vision of The Cloisters.

Violinist Johnny Gandelsman performs Bach’s Sonata No. 2 as part of a weeklong residency at The Met Cloisters.

Senior Editor Sumi Hansen interviews Cambridge classicist Mary Beard and Assistant Research Curator Julia Siemon about the stories behind the images on the famous Aldobrandini Tazze.

On November 21, 1870, The Metropolitan Museum of Art accessioned its first work of art—a Roman marble sarcophagus found in 1863 at Tarsus in Cilicia (modern southern Turkey).

Kitao Masanobu (Santō Kyōden)

...numerous masterpieces of woodblock printing, many of which are nearly impossible to find in such fine condition today...

MetCollects introduces highlights of works of art acquired by the Met each year through gifts and purchases.

Master of the Barbo Missal

"...The Met takes a major step in presenting masterpieces of Judaica..."

MetCollects introduces highlights of works of art acquired by the Met each year through gifts and purchases.

Man Ray

This remarkably seductive album of photogravures is an exquisite example of his legacy as America's greatest Surrealist photographer...

MetCollects introduces highlights of works of art acquired by the Met each year through gifts and purchases.

Hendrick Avercamp

"...His finished drawings are much rarer, and the present one is among his best of an imaginary landscape..."

MetCollects introduces highlights of works of art acquired by the Met each year through gifts and purchases.

Gilles Michel Louis Moutier-Le Page

...these very pistols spectacularly confirmed that the French were then unsurpassed in their mastery of the gunmaker's art...

MetCollects introduces highlights of works of art acquired by the Met each year through gifts and purchases.

Irving Penn

"The resulting portraits–landmarks in the history of twentieth century photography–are a brilliant update of some 300 years’ interest by artists in producing pictures of small tradesmen, or petit métiers."

MetCollects introduces highlights of works of art acquired by the Met each year through gifts and purchases.

Master of the Furies

When this compelling, transformative statuette of Saint Sebastian became available, it was an opportunity not to be missed, as the Museum has nothing comparable...

MetCollects introduces highlights of works of art acquired by the Met each year through gifts and purchases.

This is one of the most elegant and best-preserved porphyry vessels to have survived from classical antiquity...

MetCollects introduces highlights of works of art acquired by the Met each year through gifts and purchases.

Cartier

The journey of the emerald in this brooch from Colombia, where it originated in its natural state, to seventeenth-century India and back to New York underscores the abiding and universal attraction of great gems.

MetCollects introduces highlights of works of art acquired by the Met each year through gifts and purchases.

With the daring amalgamation of the whimsical, exotic, and macabre, the sculptural details on this ewer brilliantly show off the distinctive Portuguese interpretation of Renaissance style.

MetCollects introduces highlights of works of art acquired by the Met each year through gifts and purchases.