A Wall Decorated in Spanish Tiles

A Wall Decorated in Spanish Tiles

Eugène Delacroix

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Watercolors were still cumbersome to use outside the studio at this date, so Delacroix often added notes on color to his graphite sketches for later reference. He used that process to execute this drawing of a distinctive tile wall rapidly on-site and then carefully fill in the design with watercolor at another time. Delacroix adapted this tile pattern in one of the most significant paintings inspired by his visit to North Africa, "Women of Algiers in their Apartment" (1834; Musée du Louvre), underlining the crucial role of drawings in providing source material he could consult throughout his career.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A Wall Decorated in Spanish TilesA Wall Decorated in Spanish TilesA Wall Decorated in Spanish TilesA Wall Decorated in Spanish TilesA Wall Decorated in Spanish Tiles

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.