How to Escape Losing

Thomas Rowlandson

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This print and its companion, "How to Escape Winning" (59.533.438) respond to a pair of races held at Newmarket, on October 20 and 21, 1791. Centered on the Prince of Wales's prize thoroughbred Escape, these launched a scandal since, in the first, Escape was favored to win but finished last of four. The next day, Escape won handily over two of the same rivals, rewarding both the Prince and his jockey Samuel Chifney for bets placed at odds increased by the horse's recent loss. Accusations of cheating ensured and an investigation was launched by Sir Charles Bunbury, head of the Jockey Club. Although Chifney swore he had not held Escape back in the first race he was, perhaps unjustly, prevented from running further races and the Prince sold his stables soon after; he did stand by Chifney, however, and continued to pay him a generous salary.

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