A Cribbage Party in St. Giles's Disturbed By A Press Gang
October 26, 1787
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet: 10 5/8 × 15 11/16 in. (27 × 39.8 cm) Plate: 10 1/2 × 15 9/16 in. (26.7 × 39.6 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1959
Accession Number
59.533.225
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the chaotic world of 18-century London with Thomas Rowland etching *A Cribbage Party St. Giles's Dist By A Press Gang*, published on 26, 1787, by William Holland. This lively print captures a rowdy card game among working-class revelers in the notorious St. Giles slum—once a haven for the poor and marginalized—suddenly upended a ruthless press gang. These naval recruiters, empowered to forcibly enlist men into Britain's Royal Navy amid ongoing wartime demands, burst in, turning merriment into mayhem as players scatter, cards fly, and women protest. Rowlandson, a master of Georgian c...
About the Artist
Thomas Rowlandson|William Holland · 1756–1827
Thomas Rowlandson (1757–1827) was an English artist and caricaturist whose satirical watercolors and prints captured the social life of Georgian Britain with unparalleled wit and technical mastery. Alongside James Gillray, he is recognized as one of the greatest British graphic artists, and his distinctive flowing line and keen observations have made his work integral to understanding late 18th an...