The Connoisseur

Thomas Rowlandson

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The leading late-eighteenth century satirist Rowlandson here uses delicate shades of gray, touched with pale pink and blue, to mock the contrasting desires of youth and age. Seated before a steaming urn, symbolizing passion, an elderly art enthusiast eagerly examines a group of miniatures. At the same time, a comely young woman and her maid take advantage of his diverted attention. The gentleman's literal shortsightedness acts as a visual pun, pointing to his inability to judge character and suggesting that he also possesses little knowledge of art.

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