Awkward Squads Studying the Graces!!
August 29, 1809
Medium
Hand-colored etching
Dimensions
Sheet: 9 1/4 × 13 1/8 in. (23.5 × 33.4 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
59.533.1236
Tags
Art Historical Context
**Awkward Squads Studying Graces!!** (1809) is a lively hand-colored etching by British caricaturists George Murgatroyd Woodward and Thomas Rowlandson, published by Thomas Tegg. 9¼ × 13⅛ inches, this satirical print captures the humorous chaos of Regency-era Britain during the Napoleonic Wars. Rowlandson, renowned for his exaggerated, witty depictions of social follies, collaborated with Woodward to poke fun at amateur soldiers—known as "awkward squads"—who were clumsily attempting to master the elegant dances and graces of high society, often in the company of women. The title cleverly contr...