"So Considerate"

Charles Samuel Keene

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The caption below this drawing, intended to accompany a related wood-engraving in a popular periodical, sheds light on the image, which pokes fun at the power dynamic between household servants and their employers: Page: "Please 'M, Cook wished me to say when Master'll be done with the Times, as she's awaitin' for it!' Keene was a leading British illustrator who worked for Punch between 1864 and 1890. His imagery generally focused on humorous situations in humble surroundings, unlike his contemporary George Du Maurier who tended to satirize London society.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art