Magna Britannia: Her Colonies Reduced

Anonymous, British, 18th century

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Created as a book illustration, this print is based on an image first published in the Political Register in 1767. Britannia is represented as a statue seated on the ground with her arms and legs cut off. The limbs are labeled "Virginia", "Pennsylvania", "New York" and "New England". She leans against a globe and weeps. A ribbon is inscribed "Date Obolum Bellisario" [give a penny to Belisarius]. Behind are the shield and spear of Britannia, and ships with brooms tied to their masts – indicating that they are for sale.

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