Angelo's House–Escalus, a Justice, Elbow, Froth, Clown, Officers, etc. (Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, Act 2, Scene 1)

Angelo's House–Escalus, a Justice, Elbow, Froth, Clown, Officers, etc. (Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, Act 2, Scene 1)

Thomas Ryder I

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Offering humorous relief to a dark discussion of justice in Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure," Escalus judges two foolish characters--the tapster Froth, and clownish bawd Pompey. They have been brought to court by Elbow, a constable who stands at right, and the engraving reproduces Smirke's painting now in the collection of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon. The composition was made for John Boydell, who launched the Shakespeare Gallery in 1786 as a publishing-cum-exhibition scheme that included a new illustrated edition of the plays, sets of large and small engravings, and a gallery on London's Pall Mall where the related paintings were displayed. The latter opened in 1789 with thirty-four works, then grew to contain about one hundred and seventy before financial difficulties, caused by the extended Napoleonic blocade of European ports, forced Boydell to declare bankruptcy, and sell his collection by lottery in 1805.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Angelo's House–Escalus, a Justice, Elbow, Froth, Clown, Officers, etc. (Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, Act 2, Scene 1)Angelo's House–Escalus, a Justice, Elbow, Froth, Clown, Officers, etc. (Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, Act 2, Scene 1)Angelo's House–Escalus, a Justice, Elbow, Froth, Clown, Officers, etc. (Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, Act 2, Scene 1)Angelo's House–Escalus, a Justice, Elbow, Froth, Clown, Officers, etc. (Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, Act 2, Scene 1)Angelo's House–Escalus, a Justice, Elbow, Froth, Clown, Officers, etc. (Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, Act 2, Scene 1)

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.