Portrait of Jan Hus
mid-16th–early 17th century
Medium
Pen and brown ink, brown wash, incised for transfer
Dimensions
sheet: 6 1/2 x 4 3/4 in. (16.5 x 12.1 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harry G. Sperling Fund, 2007
Accession Number
2007.140
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate portrait captures Jan Hus, the 15th-century Czech theologian and reformer whose ideas helped inspire the Protestant Reformation. Executed in pen and brown ink with subtle brown wash, the drawing shows Hus in scholarly attire, his thoughtful expression conveying both intellect and quiet resolve. Though Hus lived more than a century before this work was made, artists of the Reformation era frequently created such images to honor him as a martyr who was burned at the stake in 1415 for challenging Church authority. Created by Dutch printmaker Christoffel van Sichem I in the late 150...