Female Politicians

Female Politicians

Thomas Rowlandson

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Four ladies sit at a table, two elderly and two young. The woman at left reads a newspaper and screams, "Mercy on us here is news!! They write from Hanover that when Boney part took possession of that country, he ravish'd all the Women!!" The other, holding up her fan, exclaims: "O! the Wretch". The two younger ladies at right turn to each other, and say, "It is very true Ma'am it is only a word and a blow with him—Your Honour or your property", and "Well Ma'am if he should come here, at all events I will take care of my property". A younger girl, sitting a small distance away from the table at right says: "So will I Mamma!"

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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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.