The Landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, 1620

The Landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, 1620

Joseph Andrews

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This print dramatizes the American foundation story of the Pilgrims, religious nonconformists who left England on the Mayflower seeking freedom of worship before establishing the Plymouth Colony in what is now Massachusetts. Based on Rothermel’s painting of 1854, the image shows the group’s military adviser, Myles Standish, standing on a rocky shore, helping his wife, Rose, out of an open boat. All of the men, women, and children correspond to historical individuals who braved the difficult Atlantic crossing in 1620, but, in reality, only men probably disembarked the Mayflower on December 21 to set up camp; furthermore, despite the near mythic status of Plymouth Rock, the group’s exact landing place remains unknown. At upper right, distant Native Americans watch the arrival, reminding us that the land was already peopled.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, 1620The Landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, 1620The Landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, 1620The Landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, 1620The Landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, 1620

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.