High Spirits
An exploration of 100 works by the sharp-eyed, English caricaturist Thomas Rowlandson.
THOMAS ROWLANDSON (1757-1827)
The Last Drop.
5 Apr 1811Hand-coloured etching | 31.6 x 21.9 cm (sheet of paper) (sheet of paper) | RCIN 810843
A hand-coloured print of a man draining a bowl of punch. Rowlandson copied this print from one published by Matthew and Mary Darly in 1773. The image may have appealed because it allowed Rowlandson to portray a gleeful, skeletal Death poised to strike the man, who stands on tiptoes to drain the last drop from the bowl. ‘Usquebaugh’, inscribed on one of the bottles on the floor, is Gaelic for whiskey.
Inscribed in the plate: Pubd. April 5 1811 by T. Rowlandson N 1 James St Adelphi
Bibliographic reference(s)
BM Satires 9786 (BM Satires : Catalogue of political and personal satires preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum ... 11 v. in 12.)
