A Delicate Finish to a French Usurper

A Delicate Finish to a French Usurper

Thomas Rowlandson

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Napoleon sits on a chair of state with skulls for arm rests. He has just vomited the "Throne of France". Above him flies Time about to place an extinguisher on Napoleon's head, and holding an hour glass. Next to the emperor stands Blucher at the head of a line of Allied generals and sovereigns. At the far end of the line is Wellington, then the Tsar, then the Emperor of Austria. At Napoleon's feet lies a crown marked tyrant, and strips of paper representing the countries he has disgorged. Behind him young girls dance holding up a shield adorned with the Bourbon fleur-de-lis. Represents the consequences of Leipzig.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A Delicate Finish to a French UsurperA Delicate Finish to a French UsurperA Delicate Finish to a French UsurperA Delicate Finish to a French UsurperA Delicate Finish to a French Usurper

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.