From Eaton

Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Loutherbourg moved to London from Paris in 1771 and worked for David Garrick at the Drury Lane Theatre, introducing transformative set designs and lighting effects. During this busy decade he produced "Caricatures of the English," perhaps intending them for the French market. This example centers on a thin young man who carries a cane and wears riding boots, a loose coat, and large cravat. Rather than the famous school (Eton College), the title likely refers to Eaton Hall, Cheshire, ancestral home to the nobleman, politician, gambler and racing enthusiast Richard, 1st Earl of Grosvenor. The set of caricatures was in fact only published in London, first by Torre & Co. in 1775 (Giovanni Battista Torre was a friend of the artist who had traveled with him to England), reissued soon afterward by Sayer & Bennett in 1776, and a third time in 1790 by William Holland.

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