Pont-Neuf, Paris

Pont-Neuf, Paris

Charles Meryon

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This impression of the Pont-Neuf print displays the significant changes that Meryon made to his etching plate from the seventh to the tenth state. By burnishing, or smoothing out, the copper, he erased the smokestack and cluster of neighboring buildings that can be seen in the background of an earlier state. Then he re-etched the background architecture at a much lower profile. These adjustments emphasize the semicircular stone boutiques lining the bridge, which were actually in the process of being removed when Meryon chose this subject for his print.

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.