The Sailor's Orphans, or the Young Ladies' Subscription

William Ward

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Bigg depicts a group of girls and young women who offer money and clothing to a sailor’s orphaned family. The latter’s need is demonstrated by a bare hearth, anxious expressions, and the fact that an older woman heads the family, which suggests that the children have lost both parents. The visitors at right are, by contrast, well dressed and cheerful. Dated 1800, this print responds to hardships suffered in Britain as a result of its extended war with France, including the central role the Royal Navy played in defending against a threatened Napoleonic invasion.

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