Prints
With an estimated 100,000 individual sheets, the prints in the Graphic Collection form the largest collection area. Starting with early prints from the second half of the 15th century, the collection contains works from various epochs and schools of European art history up to the present day. The holdings also document the increasing differentiation of printing techniques, starting with early woodcuts and engravings through to etchings, mezzotints and lithographs, to more modern photomechanical processes or screenprints, to name but a few examples.
Reproduction prints – that is, prints based on already existing works of art such as paintings – especially from the period between the 17th and 19th centuries are in the majority. They were mainly used as master sheets in lessons at the Academy and represent rich illustrative material on European art of the modern era.
There are large collections of works by many outstanding masters of printmaking. These include selections of works by Jacques Callot, Daniel Chodowiecki, Albrecht Dürer, Hendrik Goltzius, Lucas van Leyden, Andrea Mantegna, Marcantonio Raimondi and Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn as well as Gunter Damisch, Alfred Hrdlicka, Rudolf Jettmar, Ferdinand Schmutzer, William Unger and Herwig Zens.