Prints and Drawings

The extensive Prints and Drawings collection comprises over 12,000 works, including prints (engravings, etchings, mezzotints and lithographs), simple pencil sketches, preparatory studies for paintings, finished landscape watercolours, portraits in all media, and architectural and topographical drawings. The scope of the collection is broad, ranging in date from the fifteenth century to the present day.

Highlights include old master drawings from the Italian, French, Dutch and Flemish schools by such renowned artists as Francesco Primaticcio, Jean-Antoine Watteau and Jacob Jordaens. Works by Irish and British artists, including Hugh Douglas Hamilton, John Robert Cozens, William Orpen and Paul Henry, sit alongside works by European artists such as Paul Cézanne and Emil Nolde. Works on paper are presented in regular, temporary thematic displays and exhibitions.