Disturbers of Domestic Happiness

Disturbers of Domestic Happiness

Thomas Rowlandson

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A house is attacked while two a lady and a young girl sleep on a couch at center. Three bandits wield weapons, and one takes hold of the necklace of the lady. Another group of armed gentleman approach from the stairs at right. An early state before the title. This is a copy of an earlier Rowlandson print.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Disturbers of Domestic HappinessDisturbers of Domestic HappinessDisturbers of Domestic HappinessDisturbers of Domestic HappinessDisturbers of Domestic Happiness

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.