The collection of old drawings and graphics consists of several series, including a set of vedute of Pressburg, today's Bratislava. The set comprises a number of views of the city panorama, the city’s interior with streets, squares, and buildings, which enable mapping of the city topography, and various themes and events, such as coronations of the Hungarian monarchs. The oldest works date back to the middle sixties of the 16th century and are related to the first coronation in Pressburg in 1563. The 17th-century works are dominated by battle and war scenes depicting the Turkish threat. The Turkish wars sparked great interest in portraying fortresses such as Komárno, Nové Zámky, and Pápa. The series of works with the theme of battles and sieges of Hungarian towns comes from a collection acquired from a Pressburg collector of Italian origin, the engineer Enea Grazioso Lanfranconi. The 18th century is characterised by Baroque and Rococo views of the city in large, but also small copper engravings and etchings by Friedrich Bernhard Werner, Martin Engelbrecht, Sebastian Zeller, and others. Numerically, the 19th century is the most represented, covering a wide range of techniques and styles by various artists such as Carl Bschor, József Antal Lántz, Josef Trentsensky, Franz Josef Sandmann, and Joseph A. Groitsch. Views range from romantic visions to realistic depictions, landscape panoramas, squares, and streetscapes.
The collection also contains an extensive series of portraits. The oldest date back to the end of the 16th century and beginning of the 17th century. Particularly noteworthy is the set of mezzotints by Johann Jacob Haid and Bernhard Vogel after the Baroque portraitist Ján Kupecký, most of which come from the collection of Professor Šafařík. From the 19th century, there is a unique album of graphic profile portraits by Ferdinand von Lütgendorff-Leinburg named ‘Magyar Pántheon’, created between 1826 and 1828 in Pressburg. The series of portraits of Habsburg monarchs or aristocracy, various members of noble families, priests, and church dignitaries is also significant. The collection further includes works of Flemish, Dutch, Italian, and German provenance, which give it a stamp of supraregional significance.
Drawings form only a small but important part of the collection. In addition to numerous exceptional examples of Baroque drawings from the 18th century, several sketchbooks, sketches, and architectural drawings have been preserved that were produced by personalities working in Pressburg until the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century, such as Andreas Majsch, Alojz Rigele, Karel Feigler, and Jozef Könyöky, the first curator of the Bratislava City Museum.
