An Outdoor Luncheon

Anonymous, French, 18th century

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This chalk study appears to be an artist's first idea for a scene of outdoor merriment. An elegant party gathers around a table while servants offer trays of food and drink. Such subjects were popular in the rococo era when French artists from Antoine Watteau to Jean Honoré Fragonard produced scenes of galantry set in lush landscapes.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art