Bacchanal

Bacchanal

François Roëttiers

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A large etching of a bacchanal set amidst antique ruins including an arch and a monumental vase. For a related drawing in the museum's collection, see 1983.147.


Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

BacchanalBacchanalBacchanalBacchanalBacchanal

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.