Fête pour la Paix Générale donnée à Paris le 18 Brumaire. Pont et Place de la Concorde.

Francesco Piranesi

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

One of two fête prints showing the illuminations of the Tuileries bridges for the celebration of the ‘Paix Générale’ at Paris, November 9, 1801’. This was the second commemoration of Napoleon’s coup d’état of 18 Brumaire 1799. This print shows a night time view from the Rive Gauche looking across the river Seine along the Pont de la Concorde towards the north-east. The bridge and waterside are decorated with artificial lights. On the river in the foreground to the right, a group of small boats is depicted. The sky over the bridge is characterized by a large cumulus cloud that’s lit up by the fireworks.

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