The Clock Tower, Paris

The Clock Tower, Paris

Charles Meryon

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The perspective Meryon adopted for this etching does not conform precisely to that seen in the preparatory drawing, but rather is the result of the artist amalgamating a number of studies. While the artist was making this print, the Palais de Justice and the Conciergerie—part of the complex of law courts at the center of Paris pictured here—were undergoing renovation. The lattice of scaffolding on either side of the clock tower, the rickety wooden fence surrounding its base, and the substantial temporary structure concealing the clock at left indicate the work in progress.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Clock Tower, ParisThe Clock Tower, ParisThe Clock Tower, ParisThe Clock Tower, ParisThe Clock Tower, Paris

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.