Plate 7: Ladies and gentlemen!, from 'Caricaturana,' published in Les Robert Macaires

Plate 7: Ladies and gentlemen!, from 'Caricaturana,' published in Les Robert Macaires

Honoré Daumier

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Silver mines, gold mines, diamond mines are only thin gruel and stale rolls in comparison with coal... But even so, (you're going to say), you're selling your shares for a million?... I'm not selling my shares, gentlemen, I'm giving them away for 200 miserable francs, I'm giving two for every one, I'm giving away a needle, an ear-pick, a bodkin, and what's more, I give you my blessing into the bargain. Bring out the big drum!

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Plate 7: Ladies and gentlemen!, from 'Caricaturana,' published in Les Robert MacairesPlate 7: Ladies and gentlemen!, from 'Caricaturana,' published in Les Robert MacairesPlate 7: Ladies and gentlemen!, from 'Caricaturana,' published in Les Robert MacairesPlate 7: Ladies and gentlemen!, from 'Caricaturana,' published in Les Robert MacairesPlate 7: Ladies and gentlemen!, 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.