The York Magician Transforming a Foot-Boy to a Captain

Thomas Rowlandson

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Duke of York stands at left dressed as a magician, in a fur cap and long gown holds out a wand inscribed "Petticoat Influence." A young man dressed as an officer, stands beneath the wand, while smoke or clouds rise from his feet. The Duke says: "By the Mystery of my Art, no more be a Foot-boy—but rise a Captain". The young man says: "Bless me how soon a foot-boy is turned to a Gentleman." This state lacks the order of the Magician star on the Duke's coat. For a state with the star, see 59.533.1303.

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