Ruins of the Tuileries Palace

Isidore Pils

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

At first glance, this atmospheric view appears to depict the ruins of an ancient structure. It is only when focusing on the Arc du Carrousel in the background that it becomes clear that the subject is a contemporary one. The drawing records the remains of the Parisian Tuileries Palace, one of several important French monuments that was burned down during the Paris Commune of 1871. The Tuileries had served as a royal residence since 1564, and its demise was a powerful symbol for the socialist revolutionaries. While other monuments were eventually rebuilt, the palace was left in ruins until the government decided to demolish it completely in 1882. In the interim, many artists captured the building’s haunting appearance in drawings, paintings, and photographs.

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