City and Country

Jules-Ferdinand Jacquemart

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Jules Jacquemart was trained in etching at a young age by his father, an amateur artist, and went on to produce both reproductive and original prints. A founding member of the Société des Aquafortistes, he worked closely with Alfred Cadart and even contributed the title page to the group's first album. The idyllic landscape depicted in this print, from the 1864 edition of "Eaux-fortes modernes," is typical of the subject matter promoted by the group. Its intricately etched combination of scumbled, crosshatched, and parallel lines reflects the interest in both tradition and innovation that characterized the group during the 1860s.

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