A Grand Country Dance
Medium
Hand-colored etching on paper
Dimensions
25 × 35.4 cm (9 7/8 × 13 15/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
89982
Art Historical Context
Step into the lively world of early 19th-century British satire with *A Grand Country Dance*, hand-colored etching created by Charles Williams Argus in 1805. Measuring 25 × 35.4 cm, this print captures the exuberance—and perhaps the absurdity—of rural social gatherings, a popular subject in the era's caricatures. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Prints Drawings Department, it exemplifies the witty visual commentary that defined London's printmaking scene during the Regency period. Williams Argus, active in the competitive world of satirical etching, drew from the traditions of artists...