Known as the master of French Romanticism for his energetic paintings, Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863) was also a consummate draftsman. Yet his drawings remained largely unknown to the public during his lifetime. Beginning with a posthumous studio sale in 1864, however, these drawings have been sought after and widely appreciated for the incomparable insight they afford into the artist’s process. This handsome book, one of the few to explore the topic in depth, provides new insight into Delacroix’s drawing practice, paying particular attention to his methods and the ways in which he pushed the boundaries of the medium. It showcases a selection of more than one hundred drawings, many of which have been rarely seen, from Karen B. Cohen’s world-renowned collection. The works highlighted here range from finished watercolors to sketches, from copies after old masters and popular prints to drawings preparatory to many of Delacroix’s most important painting and print projects. Illustrated with a wealth of comparative images, the book examines the essential role of drawing in the artist’s formation and aesthetic practice, while two shorter texts trace the history of the collecting of Delacroix’s work at the Metropolitan Museum and present important new research on his materials and techniques.

This plain white coffin, excavated by The Met’s Egyptian Expedition in the 1920s, was full of material from the mummification of a man named Khaemhor, made sacred by contact with his body. Learn more here about the excavation, construction, and meaning of this fascinating object.

Guest blogger Walter B. Denny reflects upon his love of Islamic carpets and his two decades of working with the staff and resources of the Met's Antonio Ratti Textile Center.

This publication presents one hundred and fifteen drawings and paintings from the holdings of Karen B. Cohen, a noted New York collector. These French and English nineteenth-century works include landscapes, portraits, figure compositions, and still lifes by great artists of the Romantic period, of the Barbizon School, and of the Realist School, beginning with Prud'hon and ending with Seurat. A varied range of compositions by such masters as Gericault, Corot, Rousseau, Couture, Daubigny, and especially Delacroix is included. Among the highlights is a group of oil paintings by Courbet—both landscapes and portraits—and a series of cloud studies by Constable. Because these pictures have been held for so long in private hands, most are little known today, despite the fact that they were made by noted masters. Many are published here for the first time, often with comparative illustrations. Colta Ives conceived this publication and is its main author. She provides documentation and commentary for each work, placing it within the context of the artist's development and connecting it to contemporary artistic trends and innovations. Elizabeth E. Barker has contributed entries on Constable and Bonington. The character of the images assembled is remarkable, reflecting the collector's personal response to the turbulent dramas of the Romantics, the fresh discovery of landscape by French and English painters of the School of Nature, and the somber realism of Courbet and his followers. Nearly all the artists represented were alternately damned and praised for their modernity, for they were eager to present the natural world in as vivid a way as possible. Their sensitive treatment of nature and of human life, frequently in a fluid, cursory style, was intended to elicit a heightened response from the viewer. For the most part ancient history and myth were left behind for the immediacy of the present. Romanticism and the School of Nature is also the story of an exceptional collector and her independent discoveries. This publication will accompany an exhibition shown at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from October 16, 2000, to January 21, 2001.

In the late Middle Ages and early modern times, card playing was widely enjoyed at all levels of society. The playing cards in this engaging volume are unique works of art that illuminate the transition from late medieval to early modern Europe, a period of tumultuous social, artistic, economic, and religious change. Included are the most important luxury decks of hand-painted European playing cards that have survived, as well as a selection of hand-colored woodblock cards, engraved cards, and tarot packs. The casts of characters they illustrate range from royals to commoners. Many feature animals such as falcons and hounds, while other portray such diverse objects as acorns, helmets, or coins. This is the only study of its kind in English and the only one in a generation in any language. The insightful narrative by Timothy B. Husband discusses the significance of playing cards in the secular art of the period and also recounts the varied stories they tell, conjuring the customs and facts of life of the time. Little is known abut the games played with these cards, but as Husband notes: "The playing out of a hand of cards can be seen as a microcosmic reflection of the ever-changing world around us—a world in play—a view that the creators of the cards under discussion here would seem to have shared.