The Rabbit Merchant

The Rabbit Merchant

Thomas Rowlandson

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A man sells rabbits at the front door of a home at right. An old woman sniffs one of the rabbits, and says, "Sweet indeed why it smells Quite Strong." The merchant answers: "Yes Ma'am and so would you were you held in the same position." A dog bites at the rabbits behind the man's back at left.


Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Rabbit MerchantThe Rabbit MerchantThe Rabbit MerchantThe Rabbit MerchantThe Rabbit Merchant

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.