Daniel Maclise, R.A., from "Illustrated London News"

Mason Jackson

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mason Jackson worked as an engraver at the "Illustrated London News" 1850-78, and art editor from 1860. This example of his skill was based on a photograph by the London partners John and Charles Watkins and portrays the artist Daniel Maclise. Born in Cork to Scottish parents, Maclise arrived in London in 1828 to attend the Royal Academy Schools, and became known for portraits of celebrities published in "Fraser’s Magazine" between 1830 and 1836. From 1858 he worked on large murals at the new Houses of Parliament and Halifax Town Hall, commissions that undermined his health and forced him to decline the presidency of the Royal Academy.

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