A Seat in St. James's Park

George John Pinwell

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Londoners from different walks of life are here brought close to one another on a park bench–a soldier, a nursemaid, a well-dressed gentleman, and a poor violin player. This large print, possibly intended for the weekly periodical "The Graphic" as a double-page supplement, was never published because the woodblock (now Victoria and Albert Museum) developed a crack. Just a few proofs on special paper, as here, appear to have been printed. It is a larger and more elaborate version of the subject Pinwell had designed in 1869 as a wood engraving for "Once a Week". That year he also exhibited a watercolour of the composition (Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney) to great acclaim. In fact this print might have been a commission from "The Graphic" to disseminate the watercolour to a wider audience and capitalize on the artist's growing reputation. In April 1869 he was elected an associate member of the Royal Watercolour Society.

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