Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, June 2, 2009 - August 23, 2009.

For hundreds of years before the old masters, artists explored and tested the medium of drawing, producing whimsical sketches, intriguing graphic treatises, and finished drawings of marvelous refinement. Gathering some 60 works from the 9th to the early 14th century, this exhibition will be the first to celebrate the unique role of drawings in the artistic production of the Middle Ages. Early maps, artists´ sketchbooks, and masterfully decorated manuscripts - borrowed from European and American libraries and museums - will demonstrate the imagination and innovation of the medieval artists whose presence is so immediately palpable in the works. Showcasing a range of techniques and aesthetics, this exhibition will investigate the critical place of graphic images in the creative and intellectual life of the Middle Ages.