Charles Chaplin, from "L'Artiste"

Charles Chaplin, from "L'Artiste"

Célestin Nanteuil

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This portrait accompanied an article on the painter Charles Chaplin, seemingly prompted by his increased notoriety following the rejection of his painting of a female nude by the Salon jury in 1859. Chaplin appeared frequently in the pages of "L'Artiste" as a contributor. The journal published his first etchings in 1847 and lithographs after works he exhibited in the Salons of 1849 and 1851. Around this time, Chaplin shifted his focus from painting realist genre pictures to portraiture in a softer style inspired by eighteenth-century artists, such as Jean-Baptiste Greuze. Vidal, on whose drawing this print is based, also worked as a celebrated portraitist from the 1840s through 1870s.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Charles Chaplin, from "L'Artiste"Charles Chaplin, from "L'Artiste"Charles Chaplin, from "L'Artiste"Charles Chaplin, from "L'Artiste"Charles Chaplin, from "L'Artiste"

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.