Plate 15: Robert Macaire, travelling salesman, from 'Caricaturana,' published in Les Robert Macaires

Plate 15: Robert Macaire, travelling salesman, from 'Caricaturana,' published in Les Robert Macaires

Honoré Daumier

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mr. Gobard, may I have the honor of presenting you Madame De St. Bertrand, widow of the Great Army, who possesses a very considerable fortune and Mademoiselle Eloa de Wormspire, daughter of the celebrated Baron de Wormspire, to whom the great man has bequeathed an income of 50 thousand pounds in his testament... As these ladies are burning with desire to make your acquaintance, I invited them to dine at your home this evening. You'll take us to the opera and we'll have a nice evening... Mr. Gobard, I must warn you that these ladies harbor certain intentions towards you...

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Plate 15: Robert Macaire, travelling salesman, from 'Caricaturana,' published in Les Robert MacairesPlate 15: Robert Macaire, travelling salesman, from 'Caricaturana,' published in Les Robert MacairesPlate 15: Robert Macaire, travelling salesman, from 'Caricaturana,' published in Les Robert MacairesPlate 15: Robert Macaire, travelling salesman, from 'Caricaturana,' published in Les Robert MacairesPlate 15: Robert Macaire, travelling salesman, from 'Caricaturana,' published in Les Robert Macaires

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.