The Flying Breakfast

Anonymous, British, 19th century

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This satire shows coach passengers eating an early morning meal at an inn. The coachman stands at right with his hat and whip, and those seated include a woman who wears a hooded cape and yawns, a crying child, a man who leans back in his chair, a man who has taken off his wig and cap to yawn, and a man who drinks tea. A grandfather clock records the time as 5 am. A later state of the print was published by S. W. Fores in 1792 (67.539.63), titled "The Flying Breakfast, or Contents of a Night Coach." In that work, the woman seated at the left side of the table has her eyes closed. Here they are open.

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