Almanach de la Société des Aqua-fortistes

Almanach de la Société des Aqua-fortistes

Amédée de Boret

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The founding of the Société des Aquafortistes (Society of Etchers) in 1862 was instrumental in encouraging artistic, critical, and public interest in etching in France. This almanach includes a list of members from 1865–66 and featues both well-known printmakers as well as painters of the period such as Corot, Daubigny, Daumier, Manet, Pissarro, and Whistler.

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.