Le Corbeau, from "L'Artiste"

Le Corbeau, from "L'Artiste"

Félix Bracquemond

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This ominous image of ravens and gallows was published in the periodical "L’Artiste" on February 6, 1859. The first state of this print, without the text, had appeared in 1854, when Bracquemond began producing prints of birds filled with enigmatic symbolism, and often, social critique. In this etching, the raven, confrontationally engaging the viewer, symbolizes the black-robed lawyer. The shadow cast by the bird on the side of the gallows appears to be spewing Bracquemond’s poem, which in English reads: "Death’s cry, black plumage / I am the ravenous raven / Do you want to see what I’m like? / Ask a cop, or a crook." Bracquemond further amplified this menacing tone visually, through the stark contrasts between the heavy blacks and the minimal patches of white reserve, and through the dangling noose and cluster of squabbling birds.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Le Corbeau, from "L'Artiste"Le Corbeau, from "L'Artiste"Le Corbeau, from "L'Artiste"Le Corbeau, from "L'Artiste"Le Corbeau, from "L'Artiste"

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.