Disappointed Epicures

Thomas Rowlandson

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

At right, eight elderly male diners rise from their chairs in surprise to angrily look towards an accident caused by a dog who has tripped a servant in the doorway, making him spill the contents of a serving dish, which has then caused the man behind to spill liquid out of a tureen. At left, a third servant, distracted by the incident, sprays the contents of a bottle of spruce beer onto the other two servants.

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