Tired Nature's Sweet Restorer, Balmy Sleep, from "Illustrated London News"

Tired Nature's Sweet Restorer, Balmy Sleep, from "Illustrated London News"

William Luson Thomas

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Thomas's skilled wood engraving appeared in the popular London weekly, the "Illustrated London News." The tender image shows a mother cradling a sleeping baby, about to take the child upstairs to bed, preceded by a young daughter. Barnes produced genre subjects, generally centered on a few figures. His painting was exhibited at the British Institution, London in 1863. That same year, the charming composition was also translated into a large mixed method print by Charles Algernon Tomkins titled "Bed Time."

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Tired Nature's Sweet Restorer, Balmy Sleep, from "Illustrated London News"Tired Nature's Sweet Restorer, Balmy Sleep, from "Illustrated London News"Tired Nature's Sweet Restorer, Balmy Sleep, from "Illustrated London News"Tired Nature's Sweet Restorer, Balmy Sleep, from "Illustrated London News"Tired Nature's Sweet Restorer, Balmy Sleep, from "Illustrated London News"

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.