Count de Rochambeau, French General of the Land Forces in America Reviewing the French Troops

Count de Rochambeau, French General of the Land Forces in America Reviewing the French Troops

Anonymous, British, 18th century

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This image satirizes the French general and his army of 5,500 troops, a force that arrived off Rhode Island on July 11, 1780 (8,000 had been promised to aid the waiting Americans).

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Count de Rochambeau, French General of the Land Forces in America Reviewing the French TroopsCount de Rochambeau, French General of the Land Forces in America Reviewing the French TroopsCount de Rochambeau, French General of the Land Forces in America Reviewing the French TroopsCount de Rochambeau, French General of the Land Forces in America Reviewing the French TroopsCount de Rochambeau, French General of the Land Forces in America Reviewing the French Troops

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.