Scene from the Tempest: Caliban, Prospero and Miranda

Scene from the Tempest: Caliban, Prospero and Miranda

Thomas Rowlandson

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Prospero here shields Miranda from the malevolant Caliban in an image inspired by act 1, scene 2 of Shakepeare's "Tempest." The text of the play reveals that, when the magician and his daughter exiled to this remote island, they encountered this sub-human offspring of a witch, welcomed him into their cave, and taught him to speak. Later, when the monster attempted to rape Miranda, Prospero devised spells to control him and force him into servitude. Rowlandson based this etching a drawing by Mortimer, a close friend, for a series published between 1784 and 1788.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Scene from the Tempest: Caliban, Prospero and MirandaScene from the Tempest: Caliban, Prospero and MirandaScene from the Tempest: Caliban, Prospero and MirandaScene from the Tempest: Caliban, Prospero and MirandaScene from the Tempest: Caliban, Prospero and Miranda

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.