The iconographic heritage gathers the biggest patrimony of images in the country – many of them considered art works -, including drawings, caricatures, engravings, photographs and books related to visual arts. There are also pieces named “ephemerals”, which encompass newspapers and magazines clippings, posters, postal cards and calendars.
Many works have been already published from pieces contained in this heritage, covering essays and exposition catalogues, which represent a valuable contribution to the Brazilian iconographic research.
Engraving collections of high importance are stored, such as Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), Italian drawings with pieces in blood which cover the 15th and the 18th centuries, Jacques Callot engravings (1592-1635), Giovani Baptista Piranesi large collection (1720-1778), Los Desastres de La Guerra, of Don Francisco Goya (1746-1828), studies of Eliseu Visconti (1866-1944), and Modesto Brocos watercolors (1852-1936).