Plate 45: Exploitation of love, from 'Caricaturana,' published in Les Robert Macaires

Plate 45: Exploitation of love, from 'Caricaturana,' published in Les Robert Macaires

Honoré Daumier

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Oh! My darling. I cannot say how much I admire, how much I caress the charming portrait which you sent me! You even had it embellished with precious stones. What folly!! You mustn't do things like that. It grieves me... And this watch chain. How beautiful it is! How richly decorated!!... I'd like to offer you a nice present in return, something to remind you of our love and happiness... I'd like to give you a lock of my hair...

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Plate 45: Exploitation of love, from 'Caricaturana,' published in Les Robert MacairesPlate 45: Exploitation of love, from 'Caricaturana,' published in Les Robert MacairesPlate 45: Exploitation of love, from 'Caricaturana,' published in Les Robert MacairesPlate 45: Exploitation of love, from 'Caricaturana,' published in Les Robert MacairesPlate 45: Exploitation of love, 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.