John Bull Making Observations on the Comet

John Bull Making Observations on the Comet

Thomas Rowlandson

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

John Bull looks through a telescope at right and says, "Aye - Aye - Master Comet - you may attempt your Periheliums - or your Devil heliums for what I care but take the word of an Old Man you'll never reach the Sun depend upon it." In the comet are the profile heads of Napoleon and George III.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

John Bull Making Observations on the CometJohn Bull Making Observations on the CometJohn Bull Making Observations on the CometJohn Bull Making Observations on the CometJohn Bull Making Observations on the Comet

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.