Old Schoolfellows, from "Illustrated London News"

Old Schoolfellows, from "Illustrated London News"

Harvey Orrin Smith

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A man confined to bed in humble surroundings gratefully embraces a visitor whom, the title indicates, he has known since childhood. Rankley's related painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1855 with a quote from Proverbs (17.17) in the catalogue "A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." This suggests that the well-to-do visitor has responded to his friend's plight with concrete generosity, and close inspection of the image reveals a bank note offered in his left hand.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Old Schoolfellows, from "Illustrated London News"Old Schoolfellows, from "Illustrated London News"Old Schoolfellows, from "Illustrated London News"Old Schoolfellows, from "Illustrated London News"Old Schoolfellows, 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.