"The Harvesters," illustration to "The Leather Bottèl"

"The Harvesters," illustration to "The Leather Bottèl"

Edwin Austin Abbey

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Abbey moved to England in 1878 to make illustrations for Harper's and settled there permanently in 1883. This image responds to an old ballad that celebrates drinking and the superiority of leather flasks. The artist shows haymakers at noon refreshing themselves with ale. Related stanzas read: A leather bottèl we know is good, Far better than glasses or cans of wood, For when a man's at work in the field, Your glasses and pots no comfort will yield; But a good leather bottèl standing by Will raise his spirits whenever he's dry. At noon, the haymakers sit them down, To drink from their bottèls of ale nut-brown; In summer, too, when the weather is warm, A good bottèl full will do them no harm. Then the lads and lasses begin to tottle, But what would they do without this bottèl? Reproduced as a wood engraving, the image appeared in Harper's "New Montly Magazine," vol. 77 (August 1888), p. 326, and in "Old Songs, with drawings by E. A. Abbey and Alfred Parsons," New York, 1889, p. 45 (see MMA 21.36.112).

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

"The Harvesters," illustration to "The Leather Bottèl""The Harvesters," illustration to "The Leather Bottèl""The Harvesters," illustration to "The Leather Bottèl""The Harvesters," illustration to "The Leather Bottèl""The Harvesters," illustration to "The Leather Bottèl"

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.