List of museums with major collections of European prints and drawings

This is a list of museums or print rooms with major collections of European old master prints and drawings. This list is incomplete, and should not be regarded as a correct ranking of the major collections.

  1. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, France
    200 000 drawings, 10 millions prints [1]
  2. British Museum, London, England
    50,000 drawings, 2 million prints[2]
  3. The Metropolitan Museum of Art *, New York, US
    15,000 drawings, 1.5 million prints[3]
  4. Albertina, Vienna, Austria
    50,000 drawings, 1 million prints[4] Excludes 25,000 architectural drawings
  5. Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin, Germany
    110,000 drawings, 500,000 prints[5]
  6. Royal Library of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium
    Over 20,000 drawings and 700,000 prints[6]
  7. State Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia
    39,000 drawings, 486,000 prints[7]
  8. Victoria & Albert Museum, London, England
    2,000 drawings, 500,000 prints[8] Excludes 600,000 architectural drawings, 100,000 design drawings and 10,000 British drawings [4] (V&A Collecting Plan Including Acquisition & Disposal Policy, August 2004)
  9. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
    Over 500,000 prints and drawings[9]
  10. National Gallery in Prague, Collection of Prints and Drawings, Prague, Czech Republic
    60,000 drawings, 400,000 prints[10]
  11. Bibliothèque Municipale, Lyon, France
    203,500 prints[11]
  12. Cabinet des estampes et des dessins, Strasbourg, France
    Over 200,000 prints and drawings[12]
  13. Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England
    20,000 drawings, 180,000 prints[13]
  14. Royal Collection, London, England
    40,000 drawings, 150,000 prints[14] Including 600 drawings by Leonardo da Vinci
  15. Musée du Louvre, Paris, France
    140,500 drawings, 43,000 prints[15] The main print collection is at the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
  16. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, US
    150,000 drawings and prints[16]
  17. Uffizi, Florence, Italy
    120,000 drawings and prints[17]
  18. École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France
    20,000 drawings, 100,000 prints.[18][19] Excludes 45,000 architectural drawings
  19. National Gallery of Art, Washington, US
    105,000 drawings and prints[20]
  20. Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, Paris, France
    100,000 prints[21]
  21. Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, US
    11,500 drawings, 60,000 prints[22]
  22. Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon, France
    10,500 drawings, 60,0000 prints[23]
  23. Musée des Beaux-Arts, Orléans, France
    10,000 drawings, 50,000 prints[24]
  24. Museum of Modern Art, New York, US
    6,000 drawings, 50,000 prints[25]
  25. Brooklyn Museum, New York, US
    2,000 drawings, 40,000 prints[26]
  26. Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain
    9,000 drawings, 6,000 prints.[27] The main drawing and print collection is at the Biblioteca Nacional de España.
  27. Zelandia Illustrata, Amsterdam, Netherlands
    18,000 maps, prints, drawings, photographs, glass negatives, slides and postcards
  28. Museo ABC de Dibujo e Ilustración, Madrid, Spain
    200,000 drawings and illustrations by 1,500 artists from 1891 up to the present
  29. Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
    17,000 drawings, 60,000 to 70,000 prints[28]
  30. Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
    130,000 prints and drawings[29]
  31. Teylers Museum Haarlem, The Netherlands[30]
  32. Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
    100,000 prints and drawings[31]
  33. Museum of Fine Arts Budapest, Budapest, Hungary
    100,000 prints, 10,000 drawings [32]
  34. National Art Museum of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain
    50,000 drawings,[33] 70,000 prints[34]
  35. Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, Madrid, Spain
    15,300 drawings,[35] 35,000 prints[36]
  36. Hispanic Society of America, New York, US
    6,000 drawings,[37] 15,000 prints[38]
  37. Plantin-Moretus Museum, Antwerp, Belgium
    75,000 drawings and prints[39]
  38. Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München, Munich, Germany
    400,000 drawings and prints[40]

References