Metallic Tractors

James Gillray

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This small copy of a Gillray satire of November 11, 1801 appeared in the periodical "London and Paris" in 1803. The image centers on Dr. Elisha Perkins, an American inventor who claimed that electrified metallic tractors he invented could cure various diseases. Elisha's son Benjamin advertised the device from the house of John Hunter, 18 Leicester Square in London between 1798 and 1802 and Dr. Perkins here applies them to boils on the nose of a man who may be intended to represent John Bull. Published in Weimar between 1798 and 1815, "London and Paris" reported on cultural and political events in England and France and included reproductions of British and French prints, including many satires and caricatures. These often appeared soon after their initial publication date.

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