Country Ballet (Ballet Champêtre), from Essai de Papilloneries Humaines par Saint Aubin

Country Ballet (Ballet Champêtre), from Essai de Papilloneries Humaines par Saint Aubin

Charles Germain de Saint-Aubin

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Country Ballet (Ballet Champêtre), from 'Essay on Human Butterflies by Saint Aubin' (Essai de Papilloneries Humaines par Saint Aubin), with a design for a stage set upon which stand four 'human butterflies', dressed with insect-like leotards, masks with long antennae, and large butterfly wings on their backs. Two of them, on the left, playing instruments, while the other two, on the right, dance. The stage set features a pasture, which stands on a base made up of scrolling ornamental motifs, flanked on the front by a cartouche with the title 'Ballet Champêtre' inscribed in it, framed by stylized, undulating leaves. Enclosing the scene with the dancing butterflies is a sort of canopy, made up of scrolling branches and leaves, which meet on the upper part of the print, forming a bundle of tree branches, from which hang four thin garlands of flowers and leaves.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Country Ballet (Ballet Champêtre), from Essai de Papilloneries Humaines par Saint AubinCountry Ballet (Ballet Champêtre), from Essai de Papilloneries Humaines par Saint AubinCountry Ballet (Ballet Champêtre), from Essai de Papilloneries Humaines par Saint AubinCountry Ballet (Ballet Champêtre), from Essai de Papilloneries Humaines par Saint AubinCountry Ballet (Ballet Champêtre), from Essai de Papilloneries Humaines par Saint Aubin

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.