Illustration design for "The Economy of Human Life"

Illustration design for "The Economy of Human Life"

Frank Howard

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A wounded knight seated on the ground, supported by a companion who sadly covers his face. One of a group of twelve book illustration designs reproduced as an engraving in an 1834 edition of Robert Dodsley's "The Economy of Human Life," published in London John van Voorst. The image illustrates the text: "He hath not spent his life ill who knoweth to die well; neither can he have lost all his time, who employeth the last portion of it in honour."

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Illustration design for "The Economy of Human Life"Illustration design for "The Economy of Human Life"Illustration design for "The Economy of Human Life"Illustration design for "The Economy of Human Life"Illustration design for "The Economy of Human Life"

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.