Omnibus Life in London, from "Illustrated London News"

Omnibus Life in London, from "Illustrated London News"

William Maw Egley

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This wood engraving reproduces a painting by Egley, shown at the British Institution in 1859 (now Tate Britain). The image offers a view of one of the new essential components—and inconveniences—of Victorian city life. Omnibuses were introduced to London in 1829, and were horse drawn carriages that served established routes. They allowed people of middle income to move around the city with new freedom, but also forced those from different backgrounds and to sit in close quarters. Here, we see mother with two young daughters trying to avoid the stares of an older man and woman who sit opposite. At the back, the driver has opened the door at the back, to allow two more passengers to enter. The Illustrated London News described the image as, "a droll interior, the stern and trying incidents of which will be recognized by thousands of weary wayfarers through the streets of London."

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Omnibus Life in London, from "Illustrated London News"Omnibus Life in London, from "Illustrated London News"Omnibus Life in London, from "Illustrated London News"Omnibus Life in London, from "Illustrated London News"Omnibus Life in London, from "Illustrated London News"

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.