Woman sheltering a child in a landscape

Woman sheltering a child in a landscape

William Hamilton

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Hamilton belonged to a generation determined to expand the scope of the arts in Britain. He traveled to Rome as a teenager to study with Antonio Zucchi, returned to England to make decorative paintings for Robert Adam, then entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1769. From that point forward he focused on historical and literary subjects, together with portaits. This early drawing of a woman sheltering her child beneath a tree may represent Margaret of Anjou, who fled into the woods with prince Edward after the Lancasterian defeat at the Battle of Hexham, during the Wars of the Roses.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Woman sheltering a child in a landscapeWoman sheltering a child in a landscapeWoman sheltering a child in a landscapeWoman sheltering a child in a landscapeWoman sheltering a child in a landscape

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.