A Mad Dog in a Coffee House
March 20, 1809
Medium
Hand-colored etching
Dimensions
Sheet: 11 3/16 × 15 9/16 in. (28.4 × 39.5 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
59.533.1322
Tags
Art Historical Context
Thomas Rowlandson’s *A Mad Dog in a Coffee House*1809) is a lively hand-colored etching that captures the chaotic frenzy of Regency-era London society. Published on March 20, this satirical print depicts men and women in a bustling coffee house thrown into pandemonium by a rabid dog—likely a nod to real fears of rabies outbreaks. Rowlandson, a master caricaturist known for his Hogarthian wit, exaggerates facial and tumbling figures to mock human panic and folly amid the era’s social hubs, where coffee houses served as for gossip, politics, and commerce. As a hand-colored etching, the work sho...
About the Artist
Thomas Rowlandson · 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...