Paté d'Anguille

Paté d'Anguille

Nicolas Lancret

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This drawing appears to be preparatory for a print credited to Nicolas Lancret in the 'Suites d'Estampes Nouvelles pour les Contes de La Fontaine', a series of thirty-eight prints illustrating La Fontaine's Tales, engraved 1736-43 by Larmessin (in collaboration with Schmidt, Tardieu, Filloeul, Legrand, Aveline and Sornique) after Lancret, Pater, Eisen, Boucher, Le Clerc, Le Mesle, Le Lorrain and Vleughels. In this set, also known as 'Suite Larmessin', Larmessin engraved twenty-two plates: twelve after Lancret, four after Boucher, four after Vleughels and two after Le Clerc. The style, however, does not suggest the hand of Lancret. It is possible that the initial sketch was done by another artist connected to the project, perhaps Sebastien Le Clerc the Younger (1676-1763).

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.