Nursing the Spawn of a Tyrant

Nursing the Spawn of a Tyrant

Thomas Rowlandson

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Marie Louise recoils from her infant son, seated in her lap, who threatens her with a dagger. Napoleon hides behind a curtain at right. A bishop at left raises a goblet inscribed "Composing Draught" to the Empress.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Nursing the Spawn of a TyrantNursing the Spawn of a TyrantNursing the Spawn of a TyrantNursing the Spawn of a TyrantNursing the Spawn of a Tyrant

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.