The Bailiff's Hunt: Going Out in the Morning, In Full Scent, Breaking Cover, and The Pursuit

Thomas Rowlandson

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Four plates on one sheet. At upper left, "Going Out in the Morning," two bailiffs and two dogs cross the street. At upper right, "In Full Scent," the bailiffs crouch beside a door where the two dogs are inspecting. At lower left, "Breaking Cover," a maidservant opens the door, while a man jumps out of the window at left. At lower right, "The Pursuit," the bailiffs and dogs chase the man down a London street.

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