"The School of Legislation" in Lincoln's-Inn Hall, from "Illustrated London News"

"The School of Legislation" in Lincoln's-Inn Hall, from "Illustrated London News"

George Frederic Watts

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Based on a forty-five foot long fresco that Watts painted for New Hall at Lincoln's Inn between 1853 and 1859, this print circulated the imagery in a weekly periodical. Since Lincoln's Inn was the home of many of London's leading law firms (or chambers), the imagery represents great lawmakers from history in a composition that recalls Raphael's "School of Athens." Moses, Muhammad, Edward I and Charlemagne appear below sculptures that symbolize Justice, Truth and Mercy.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

"The School of Legislation" in Lincoln's-Inn Hall, from "Illustrated London News""The School of Legislation" in Lincoln's-Inn Hall, from "Illustrated London News""The School of Legislation" in Lincoln's-Inn Hall, from "Illustrated London News""The School of Legislation" in Lincoln's-Inn Hall, from "Illustrated London News""The School of Legislation" in Lincoln's-Inn Hall, 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.