The Lyon and the Kid, from Ogilby's Aesopics

Francis Barlow

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Gaywood based his etching on a drawing by Francis Barlow (see 54.645.1), England's first native book illustrator remembered for his accomplished depictions of animals and birds. Many of the latter illustrated fables, and this example comes from a group published by John Ogilby. The fable tells how a humble goat wisely chose to remain safely on a hill, resisting the enticements of a kingly lion who secretly wishes to eat him. The print was published at the end of a tumultuous decade that saw the dissolution of Oliver Cromwell's Protectorate, restoration of Charles II to the throne, succession of his brother James II and, finally, the latter's ouster by the Dutch-born William III and his wife Mary II. The moral of the fable asserts that it is: "Better be Captain in the smallest Fort, Than be commanded in a Princes Court."

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