Tail Piece to Volume Three: The Genii of Caricature Bringing in Fresh Supplies

Thomas Rowlandson

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Plates from the series were rearranged and reissued until 1821. Street scene showing Tegg's printshop at left with a crowd gathered in front. Four demons at center hold out a long net filled with papers inscribed with the subjects of satirical prints, including manners, investigation, jokes, and fashion.

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