For the first time, the renowned collections of 19th-century French drawings from The Baltimore Museum of Art and the Walters Art Museum were the subject of a major joint exhibition presented at each museum. The Essence of Line featured more than 150 rarely shown drawings and watercolors by some of the most influential French artists of the 19th century, including Eugène Delacroix, Honoré Daumier, Paul Cézanne, and Edgar Degas. From revealing preparatory sketches to beautiful finished watercolors, these works surveyed the astonishing range of French art over the course of a century of innovation–neoclassical landscapes and symbolist fantasies, narrative scenes and poignant views of peasant life, and bawdy caricatures and social satire. The exhibition featured a comprehensive catalogue combining the works from both institutions and a searchable online database of French works on paper in the collections of the Walters, the BMA, and the Peabody Art Collection: Maryland State Archives. The exhibition was organized by The Baltimore Museum of Art and the Walters Art Museum with funding provided by The Richard C. von Hess Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. The Walters venue was generously supported by Stephanie and Jay Wilson, Millicent and Peter Bain, and Eleanor Abell Owen.