The Quaker and the Clarke

The Quaker and the Clarke

Thomas Rowlandson

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mrs. Clarke runs with arms extended towards the Quaker at right declaring, "Stop my Darling and go along with me." The Quaker walks away from her, clasping his gloves to his chest and remarking, "Woman avaunt, I am not to be tempted, and be it known also I am a married man, therefore what little business I do in thy way it is not worth dividing."

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Quaker and the ClarkeThe Quaker and the ClarkeThe Quaker and the ClarkeThe Quaker and the ClarkeThe Quaker and the Clarke

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.