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.

The article discusses the complex issues related to 19th-century reproductive prints. Its starting point is the oeuvre of Feliks Stanisław Jasiński, a Polish engraver who was mainly active in France. He specialized in reproductive prints of works of art, and is a relatively well- -known and researched figure in the history of Polish graphic arts. Outlining the context for his activities also becomes a contribution to reflections on the place of reproductive prints in 19th century artistic culture, as well as an attempt to define a framework for considering this type of graphic production. In citing various examples of modern reproductive graphics, its diversity is proven. Theses on the primacy of the criterion of “fidelity” and technological determination in the history of reproduction are rejected. Instead, the complex links between this field and various aspects of artistic culture are pointed out. Particular emphasis is placed on the links between the functions, form and production methods of such prints. Chief consideration is given to the type of reproductive graphics made by using traditional metal techniques, which apart from their informative functions, also performed important artistic functions, as evidenced by the described phenomena occurring within this field in the second half of the 19th century, and the accompanying written tradition, formed since the 18th century.