The Goose of the Capitol Alias a Capital Goose!

John Doyle

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In this political satire, a white goose represents Joseph Hume, who cackles at Sir Robert Peel and the Duke of Wellington. The imagery was suggested to Doyle by Hume himself who, in a speech to the electors of Middlesex, reminded them that the cackling of a goose had saved the capitol of Rome, advising the inhabitants of the approach of invading Gauls.

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