L'Académie des Sciences et des Beaux-Arts

Sébastien Leclerc I

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dedicated to Louis XIV, this work by Le Clerc does not represent one particular academy (despite its title), but rather is a compilation of the activities that took place at two different institutions: the Académie de Peinture et de Sculpture and the Académie des Sciences. The talented draughtsman and engraver was affiliated with both. The drawing upon which the print is based is in the British Museum, London (1886-1-11-18).

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