Berks County Almshouse, 1880

John Rasmussen

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A house painter from Reading, Pennsylvania, Rasmussen was influenced by the works of Charles Hofmann, a fellow resident of the public poorhouse in Shillington, Berks County, Pennsylvania. Rasmussen was committed for alcoholism in 1879 and stayed at the facility until the end of his life. Painted on a heavy sheet of zinc, this aerial view provides a detailed and accurate image of the buildings and grounds of the institution within a central oval. Rasmussen included genre details such as townspeople passing on the road and residents and workers at the almshouse. At the four corners are views of the area’s factories and farmlands seen in summer, winter, spring, and fall.

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