Anagram in Honor of Charles III, Duke of Lorraine and Bar
ca. 1595–1605
Medium
Pen and brown, red and black ink, brown wash, white gouache; incised construction lines
Dimensions
Sheet: 15 3/8 × 12 in. (39 × 30.5 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Daniel Ergmann Gift, 2014
Accession Number
2014.104
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
Art Historical Context
Created around 1600 by the Flemish draftsman and engraver Aegidius Sadeler II, this intricate sheet honors Charles III, Duke of Lorraine and Bar, through a visual anagram. Sadeler, who worked extensively at the imperial court in Prague, specialized in refined allegorical designs that blended portraiture, heraldry, and emblematic imagery. The drawing’s prominent display of lions, eagles, dogs, crowns, and coats of arms celebrates the duke’s lineage and authority while inviting viewers to decipher the layered textual and symbolic puzzle. Executed in pen with brown, red, and black inks, brown wash, and white gouache over incised construction lines, the sheet reveals Sadeler’s meticulous technique. The combination of media and the visible underdrawing suggest a highly finished presentation piece, possibly intended as a model for an engraving or a diplomatic gift. Such works were prized in late-Renaissance court culture for their intellectual wit and technical virtuosity. Today in the Metropolitan Museum’s collection, the drawing offers a vivid glimpse into the sophisticated visual language used to flatter and commemorate European nobility at the turn of the seventeenth century.
About the Artist
Aegidius Sadeler II · 1568–1629
Netherlandish, Antwerp 1568–1629 Prague