Nature (The Calmady Children)

Samuel Cousins

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Lawrence's masterful depiction of two young sisters was admired for its simple naturalism long before the painting entered the Met's collection in 1925 (25.110.1). Indeed this quality seems to have suggested the title "Nature" under which Cousins's print was published. This single-sheet print is perhaps the best known, and one of several published examples. These range greatly in size and medium, and include wood engravings in both British and French illustrated newspapers, such as "Pen and Pencil" in 1855 and "Le Journal Illustré" in 1864. Engravings and lithographs were also made after Lawrence's double portrait.

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