Société des Aquafortistes (Frontispice)

Félix Bracquemond

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Bracquemond's design for the title page of the Société des Aquafortistes' 1865 album relied on complex symbolism to suggest the prominent new role of etching. Synthesizing allusions to the past and the present with a wide range of visual styles, the image indicates the universality and modernity of the prints included within the portfolio.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art