The purpose of the article is to give an overview of two extensive sets of graphics reproductions of European Old Masters painting taken from album publications at the beginning of the 19th century. The first set of prints is a French catalogue-compendium Annales du Musée Napoleon, with illustrations by Charles Normand, the second is an album Kupferstiche von John, containing copper engravings by Friedrich John. The present article was an attempt to characterize both groups of reproduction prints in connection with the ideas of the time on the importance of Old Master schools of painting as well as artistic circles and the artists themselves, then widely used in contemporary publications on European art and the documentation of Old Masters paintings in private and museum collections.