John Bull Listening to the Quarrels of State Affairs

John Bull Listening to the Quarrels of State Affairs

Thomas Rowlandson

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Napoleon stands at right dictating terms to Addington, who is on the extreme right. He puts a forefinger on the palm of his hand to enforce his words, saying: "And so, - if you do so, I do so!" Addington, with a distressed stare, exclaims "Oh! - Oh!!" At left, John Bull, hands on knees, gapes at the pair, saying, "I declare my very wig, stands an end with Curiosity!! What can they be quareling about? O that I could but be let into the secret if I ax our gentleman concerning it, tis ten to one if he tells me the right story."

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

John Bull Listening to the Quarrels of State AffairsJohn Bull Listening to the Quarrels of State AffairsJohn Bull Listening to the Quarrels of State AffairsJohn Bull Listening to the Quarrels of State AffairsJohn Bull Listening to the Quarrels of State Affairs

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.