Boxing Match for 200 Guineas, Betwixt Dutch Sam and Medley Fought 31 May 1810, on Moulsey Hurst Near Hampton

Boxing Match for 200 Guineas, Betwixt Dutch Sam and Medley Fought 31 May 1810, on Moulsey Hurst Near Hampton

Thomas Rowlandson

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Two boxers face each other on the turf, each accompanied by a second, with bottlemen seated at lower left and right. The ring is formed by densely packed male spectators with a few women shown standing at the back on the roofs of coaches. "Dutch Sam" was a Jewish pugilist from Holland who remained unbeaten until December 1814. This match took place on May 31, 1810, went 49 rounds, and lasted 52 minutes before Ben Medley was defeated. In the years that followed the French Revolution, British boxing and Spanish bullfighting rose to new prominence as demonstrations of individual skill and courage, replacing armored princely pageants.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Boxing Match for 200 Guineas, Betwixt Dutch Sam and Medley Fought 31 May 1810, on Moulsey Hurst Near HamptonBoxing Match for 200 Guineas, Betwixt Dutch Sam and Medley Fought 31 May 1810, on Moulsey Hurst Near HamptonBoxing Match for 200 Guineas, Betwixt Dutch Sam and Medley Fought 31 May 1810, on Moulsey Hurst Near HamptonBoxing Match for 200 Guineas, Betwixt Dutch Sam and Medley Fought 31 May 1810, on Moulsey Hurst Near HamptonBoxing Match for 200 Guineas, Betwixt Dutch Sam and Medley Fought 31 May 1810, on Moulsey Hurst Near Hampton

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.