Two Boys Blowing a Bladder by Candle-light

Two Boys Blowing a Bladder by Candle-light

Peter Perez Burdett

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This depiction of two boys testing the capacity of a bladder perfectly captures the scientific spirit of the Age of Enlightenment. Burdett's print is unique in that it bears no trace of etched outlines, and thus may be the first pure aquatint produced in England. The plate was inked and printed twice, first in red, then in brown, to reproduce the warm, rosy glow of Wright's candlelit painting.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Two Boys Blowing a Bladder by Candle-lightTwo Boys Blowing a Bladder by Candle-lightTwo Boys Blowing a Bladder by Candle-lightTwo Boys Blowing a Bladder by Candle-lightTwo Boys Blowing a Bladder by Candle-light

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.