Plate 30: Robert Macaire before his judges, from 'Caricaturana,' published in Les Robert Macaires

Plate 30: Robert Macaire before his judges, from 'Caricaturana,' published in Les Robert Macaires

Honoré Daumier

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Very well! Yes, gentlemen, I was rather unfortunate at the Assize Court... but misfortune is always respectable!... moreover, it’s true what has been said, I've a habit of subtracting money, it's easier to excuse me than someone else because it's harder for me to resist my weakness... as for the rest, I am accused of selling lead for gold? Twenty witnesses swear to it. Very well! I deny it forty times and since two denials are worth an avowal it's clear that you cannot find me guilty. (after this brilliant improvisation Robert Macaire is condemned with a maximum sentence).

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Plate 30: Robert Macaire before his judges, from 'Caricaturana,' published in Les Robert MacairesPlate 30: Robert Macaire before his judges, from 'Caricaturana,' published in Les Robert MacairesPlate 30: Robert Macaire before his judges, from 'Caricaturana,' published in Les Robert MacairesPlate 30: Robert Macaire before his judges, from 'Caricaturana,' published in Les Robert MacairesPlate 30: Robert Macaire before his judges, 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.