Surrey Institution

Thomas Rowlandson

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Intended to encourage a knowledge of science, music and literature, the Surrey Instituion was founded by private subscription in 1807, modeled on the Royal Institution which had been in existence since 1799. Suitable premises were found in the Rotunda Building, south of the Thames, close to the Surrey side of Blackfriars Bridge. Joseph T. Parkinson was employed to renovate the decayed structure, and the results were a lecture hall that seated 500 (seen here), lending library and reading room, chemical lab, collection of philosophical apparatus and committee rooms. These opened in May 1808, shortly before the publication of Rowlandson and Pugin's print, with the costs borne by 458 subscribing members who each contributed 30 pounds. By 1810 the library contained 5000 volumes, but enthusiasm waned and the organization dissolved in 1823.

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