Don't Move, from "The Graphic" Christmas Number

William Small

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Small was considered the most successful illustrator of his time. Born and trained in Scotland, he moved to London in 1865 and exhibited oils and watercolors at the Royal Acadmey and Royal Institution. He designed wood engravings for "Once a Week", "Good Words" and "The Graphic," and illustrated Thomas Hardy's "Jude the Obscure" (the author treasured the original drawings). This large color print reproduces a charming family subject, selected by "The Graphic" as a bonus issued to subscribers at Christmas in 1884. The black painted side chair held by the girl, lacquered cabinet and porcelains all reflect Japoniste-Aesthetic taste of the period. The father's uniform connects him to the infantry, perhaps the Duke of Wellington's regiment. Large colored wood engravings such as this were made using multiple blocks and required careful printing. They were, as a result, expensive to produce.

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