Portrait of two children

George Richmond

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Richmond was one of Victorian Britain’s most successful watercolor portraitists, creating intimate and engaging images. His reputation was launched in 1832 when he represented the abolitionist-politician William Wilberforce. By 1837, when he made this work, he earned a thousand pounds annually (about £140,000 today). A miniaturist’s training underpins the confidently executed faces of these siblings. Lines of graphite visible beneath the layers of color demonstrate how the composition was established, while lively details, such as the girl’s red sash, the boy’s colorful handkerchief, and the gold-tasseled cap, enhance the informal mood. A few months after he made this work, Richmond and his wife departed London for a two-year stay in Italy.

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