The Collector of Prints

1866
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 815
In this scene, cheap, outmoded prints—colored lithographs by the flower painter Pierre-Joseph Redouté—are coupled with a fashionable Tang dynasty horse and Japanese fabrics pinned on the bulletin board to typify an old-fashioned collector, obsessively accumulating an array of artworks. The depiction of individuals, interrupted at tasks amid settings that reveal clues about their character, was developed by Degas in numerous figure paintings of the 1860s and early 1870s.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Collector of Prints
  • Artist: Edgar Degas (French, Paris 1834–1917 Paris)
  • Date: 1866
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 20 7/8 x 15 3/4 in. (53 x 40 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929
  • Object Number: 29.100.44
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

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