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Key figures

Origin and history

The Prints and Drawings Office in Strasbourg is an institution dedicated to graphic arts, integrated with the Museums of the City of Strasbourg. Its collections, which had been established since 1877, were initially attached to the Museum of Fine Arts. They cover a period from the 14th to the mid-19th century, including drawings, wood engravings, etchings and lithographs. The works after this period are kept at the graphic arts office of the Musée d'Art moderne et contemporain in Strasbourg.

The office is currently located on the third floor of the former Imperial School of the Military Health Service in Strasbourg, 5 Place du Château, near the cathedral. However, he had to leave this site in 2025 to give way to the teams of the Tourist Office and the Museums of the City. The collections will be temporarily transferred to the "Social Union" building before joining the Rohan Palace.

The firm's collections are remarkable for their diversity and richness. They include an Alsatian iconographic background, views of Strasbourg and its cathedral, as well as Alsatian portraits. The engraving occupies a central place, with major works by German artists such as Albrecht Dürer, Hans Baldung Grien, and Lucas Cranach, as well as Italian Renaissance engravings, including pieces by Andrea Mantegna and Antonio Pollaiuolo. Northern schools are also well represented, with works by Rembrandt, Hendrik Goltzius, and Jacques Callot.

The drawing fund covers a similar period, from the 16th to the 19th century, and includes Italian, German and French works. Notable pieces include drawings attributed to Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, Hans Baldung, and Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg. A collection of goldsmith's drawings from the 18th and 19th centuries, as well as the Strasburg miniatures from the 17th century, complete this collection.

The firm also preserves valuable albums such as Daniel Specklin's Architectura von Festungen (1583) and drawings by Jean Nicolas Karth. These collections reflect local history, Alsatian popular imagery, and thematic collections such as Alsatian portraits or regional landscapes. The institution benefited from major donations, such as the donation of Poitrey-Ballabio in 2019, enriching its funds of 17th-century Italian, Nordic and French works.

Historically, the firm was affiliated with the Museum of Fine Arts and installed in various places, including the Rohan Palace. In 1887, the Hohenlohe Museum, a precursor of the Museum of Decorative Arts, integrated its graphic documents into the firm. After several reorganizations, notably in 1939 and 1978, the firm was transferred in 1984 to its current premises, which it shared with the Museum Library until the opening of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in 1998.

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