Sports of a Country Fair, Part the First

Sports of a Country Fair, Part the First

Thomas Rowlandson

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A horse has broken loose from a two-wheeled cart, which is packed with visitors to the fair, who have been thrown onto the ground. The fair booths are in the background at right.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Sports of a Country Fair, Part the FirstSports of a Country Fair, Part the FirstSports of a Country Fair, Part the FirstSports of a Country Fair, Part the FirstSports of a Country Fair, Part the First

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.