The Library's collection of drawings and paintings comprises around 10,000 items by Swedish artists and about 400 by foreigners from the 16th to the 20th century.
The Swedish collection of drawings and paintings has very varied content - the motifs are scenes of daily life, topographical views, historical events and portraits. The collection includes famous artists such as Carl Gustaf Pilo, Johan Tobias Sergel, Carl Fredric von Breda, Louis Masreliez, Elias Martin, Carl Johan Fahlcrantz, Jean Eric Rehn and Carl Larsson to mention just a few. Among the well known amateurs are Augustin and Carl August Ehrensvärd, Hjalmar Mörner, Carl Stefan Bennet, Carl Gustaf Löwenhielm, Fredrika Bremer and many others.
Among the foreign drawings are for instance works by Bernini, Boucher, Callot, Poussin, Raphael, Rembrandt and Rubens - in certain cases attribution is debatable.
The Swedish drawings up to 1958 are listed in a printed catalogue:
Davidsson, Åke: Katalog över svenska handteckningar i Uppsala universitetsbibliotek = Katalog der schwedischen Handzeichnungen in der Universitätsbibliothek zu Uppsala. Uppsala 1958. Acta Bibliothecae R. Universitatis Upsaliensis 12.
