Pierre-Numa Bassaget

Pierre-Numa Bassaget was a draftsman and designer whose documented activity spans the first half of the nineteenth century, circa 1800 to 1850. Bassaget focused primarily on illustration related to fashion, costume, and contemporary social scenes, providing valuable visual records of early Victorian era life.

The artist's surviving output, represented in major institutional holdings, consists exclusively of drawings. Seven drawings are currently held in museum collections, confirming the artist's professional credibility as a figure illustrator and designer. These works are preserved primarily by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The subjects reflect a strong interest in theatrical and sartorial matters, evidenced by multiple drawings simply titled Costume Design. Other notable works include detailed figure studies such as Fashion Drawing with a Woman Seated in a Chair with a Boy and Girl, and the genre scene Crowd Leaving a Theater (?).

The preservation of these historical works ensures that designs by Pierre-Numa Bassaget prints remain available for study. Today, the artist's work is often made available for study as high-quality prints via public domain initiatives, ensuring continuing scholarly access to this period’s illustration and design history.