Album of 107 preparatory drawings to illustrate David Hume's "History of England"

Album of 107 preparatory drawings to illustrate David Hume's "History of England"

Henri-Félix-Emmanuel Philippoteaux

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Philippoteaux was one of the most prominent artists of military subjects working in mid nineteenth-century France. This album contains preparatory drawings to illustrate a French edition of Scottish philosopher and historian David Hume’s "History of England." Covering a long historical range of English political subjects, Philippoteaux’s preliminary drawings highlight his fine draftsmanship and close attention to period details. In the 1860s, Philippoteaux began to produce large-scale panoramas of warfare; these immersive tableaux were intended to reproduce the sights and sensations of battle. This album offers a glimpse into the artist’s earlier interest in historic warfare, as well as his approach to narrative illustration on a smaller scale.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Album of 107 preparatory drawings to illustrate David Hume's "History of England"Album of 107 preparatory drawings to illustrate David Hume's "History of England"Album of 107 preparatory drawings to illustrate David Hume's "History of England"Album of 107 preparatory drawings to illustrate David Hume's "History of England"Album of 107 preparatory drawings to illustrate David Hume's "History of England"

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.