The Privy Council of a King

Thomas Rowlandson

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ferdinand VII, King of Spain, sits on a throne at center with his feet resting on books inscribed "Laws" and "Magna Carta" and a collection of skulls beneath him. He has mule's ears and listens to the advice four advisors give him through horns. He had been overthrown by Napoleon in 1808, then returned to rule a second time between 1813 and 1829

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