The Easter Hunt at Epping Forest, Plate First

The Easter Hunt at Epping Forest, Plate First

Henry William Bunbury

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Chasing an unseen quarry, Londoners ride horses or are seated in a carriage, with chimney sweeps on a donkey joining in the fun. Two pigs lie in the path of the oncoming crowd, and the spectacleis watched by figures from an observation tower. The etcher of this print has not been indentified.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Easter Hunt at Epping Forest, Plate FirstThe Easter Hunt at Epping Forest, Plate FirstThe Easter Hunt at Epping Forest, Plate FirstThe Easter Hunt at Epping Forest, Plate FirstThe Easter Hunt at Epping Forest, Plate First

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.