Boney Bothered or an Unexpected Meeting
July 9, 1808
Medium
Hand-colored etching
Dimensions
sheet: 14 5/16 x 9 5/8 in. (36.3 x 24.5 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
59.533.579
Tags
Art Historical Context
**Boney Bothered an Unexpected Meeting** is a spirited hand-colored etching by British caricaturist Charles Williams published by Thomas Tegg July 9, 1808. Measuring 14 5/16 x 9 5/8 inches, this from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Elisha Whittelsey Collection exemplifies the's booming satirical print market, where affordable etchings lampooned public figures for mass audiences. Created amid the Napoleonic Wars, the artwork targets Napoleon I—derisively called "Boney" by the British—with the title suggesting a comical, unforeseen encounter that ruffles the emperor's feathers. In 1808, as Nap...
About the Artist
Charles Williams|Thomas Tegg · 1797–1830
Charles Williams (1797–1830) was a British caricaturist and printmaker who worked in London during the final decades of the Georgian era, producing satirical prints for the thriving trade in political and social caricature that flourished in the city's print shops. He worked in the tradition established by such masters as James Gillray and Thomas Rowlandson, whose biting visual commentary on polit...