The Babes in the Wood

Thomas Crawford

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Crawford derived the subject for this sculpture from an old English ballad of the same title, which describes the abandonment and death of an orphaned boy and his younger sister. Clasped in each other’s arms on the floor of a forest, they pass serenely into eternal slumber—a state underscored by their tranquil features. The painstakingly carved leaves and acorns allude to the part of the story in which a robin covers the children with foliage as a substitute for a proper burial. The poignant group is an example of Victorian attempts to soften the anguish of death by treating it with bittersweet sentimentality.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art