Dame de Constantinople, plate 5 from "Recueil de diverses fig.res étrangeres Inventées par F. Boucher P.tre du Roy et Gravées par F. Ravenet" (Collection of Various Foreign Figures, Devised by F. Boucher, Painter of the King and Engraved [etched] by F. Ravenet)

Simon Francis Ravenet, the elder

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This print is based on a recently discovered drawing by Boucher, which hangs alongside. In Ravenet’s etching, the composition is reversed and the caption describes the subject as a "Woman of Constantinople," part of a suite of twelve prints of women in different costumes representing France, Italy, and the Levant. Gabriel Huquier was the publisher of the series, and, from the catalogue of his 1772 estate sale, it would seem that he was also owner of the preparatory drawings. Boucher’s many collaborations with printmakers vastly expanded the dissemination of his imagery and the impact of his style.

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.