
Mistake and No Mistake, A Scene at Shanklin, Isle of Wight
John Doyle
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
This satire records a comic incident experienced by Lord Chancellor Brougham in 1834 while he was making a speaking tour. At Fareham in Hampshire members of a local philosophical institution had planned to compliment him with a prepared address but were prevented by Brougham's unexpectedly quick departure. Determinedly, they followed him to the Isle of Wight and persuaded the innkeeper at Shanklin that they were important visitors. Since the chancellor had left word that urgent messengers should be admitted (thinking he might be contacted by George IVg), the gentlemen from Fareham were shown to his room. Doyle's image conveys the self importance of the three Hampshire philosophers, perplexed demeanor of the innkeeper, and Brougham's annoyed surprise.
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.