Paris sous la Commune, Notes et Eaux fortes and Paris Incendie

Paris sous la Commune, Notes et Eaux fortes and Paris Incendie

Adolphe Martial Potémont, called Martial

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The etcher Martial spent his career focused on the city of Paris as his primary subject and created a number of portfolios of prints in response to the tumultuous events of 1870−71. Like many of his series, "Paris under the Commune" takes the form of an illustrated letter. This plate shows the Vendôme Column before and after it was toppled by the Communards. The text laments the demise of the monument that had stood as a testament to the superiority of the French army.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Paris sous la Commune, Notes et Eaux fortes and Paris IncendieParis sous la Commune, Notes et Eaux fortes and Paris IncendieParis sous la Commune, Notes et Eaux fortes and Paris IncendieParis sous la Commune, Notes et Eaux fortes and Paris IncendieParis sous la Commune, Notes et Eaux fortes and Paris Incendie

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.