Artists as Collectors

Artists were the earliest and greatest collectors of drawings. 

Celebrated painters including Edgar Degas, Thomas Lawrence, and Giorgio Vasari were passionate collectors, and their appetites for drawings by old and contemporary masters compelled them to acquire exceptional examples of draftsmanship by artists such as Delacroix, Raphael, and Rembrandt. 

Not just a tool for the making of works of art, drawings were valued as intellectual property, coveted rarities, and powerful status symbols.​

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website