While many art patrons in 19th-century America were building collections of painting and sculpture from England and Italy, a group of collectors in Baltimore-including William Walters, George Lucas, and the Cone sisters-assembled extensive collections of drawings by French masters, from David to Daumier, Degas, and Cézanne.The Essence of Linewas a joint exhibition of French drawings held by the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Walters Art Museum, and the Peabody Art Collection-a brilliant panorama of sketches, watercolors, and presentation drawings, many of them little known outside a small circle of experts. This superb catalog spotlights 106 of these works, seen in large color plates, often with additional related sketches and detail views. Five in-depth essays are further illustrated with color figures, and the works are keyed to a free online catalog of more than 900 French drawings.