Title Page, The Caricature Magazine by G. M. Woodward, Vol. 4

Title Page, The Caricature Magazine by G. M. Woodward, Vol. 4

Thomas Rowlandson

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Tegg's "Caricature Magazine" first appeared in 1807 and each issue was given a different title page. This example introduced volume 4 in 1809; it would be put to use again in 1821 with a revised date and different hand coloring (see 59.533.1716). Two figures below may represent the artist Woodward and Tegg, with the man at left sketching a caricature and sitting below a framed image of a Masquerade and the word Humour; that at right holding a whip and sitting beneath a picture of a Country Dance and the word Satire. Laurels frame the title and publication details, with the latter topped with a swag lettered "Vive la Bagatelle," and a mask, here light-skinned, held by cupids. Text further above reads "Ever Changing" and "Ever New."

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Title Page, The Caricature Magazine by G. M. Woodward, Vol. 4Title Page, The Caricature Magazine by G. M. Woodward, Vol. 4Title Page, The Caricature Magazine by G. M. Woodward, Vol. 4Title Page, The Caricature Magazine by G. M. Woodward, Vol. 4Title Page, The Caricature Magazine by G. M. Woodward, Vol. 4

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.