Caricature of a Man with a Dog
ca. 1800
Medium
Red chalk
Dimensions
sheet: 6 1/8 x 7 7/8 in. (15.6 x 20 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1960
Accession Number
60.620.61
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delightful *Caricature of a Man with a Dog created anonymously by a British artist around 1800, captures the playful spirit of Regency-era satire in a compact red chalk drawing measuring just 6 1/8 x 7 7/8 inches. Red chalk, or sanguine, was a favored medium for quick, expressive sketches, offering warm, fleshy tones that lent themselves perfectly to humorous portraits and lively gestures. Its soft, blendable quality allowed artists to exaggerate features with fluid lines, evoking both intimacy and exaggeration in this intimate sheet. In early 19th-century Britain, caricatures flourished...