Comforts of Bath, Plate 10
January 6, 1798
Medium
Hand-colored etching and aquatint
Dimensions
Sheet: 7 11/16 × 10 1/4 in. (19.6 × 26 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
59.533.558(10)
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the lively satire *Comforts of Bath, 10* (1798), British caricaturist Thomas Rowlandson, published by S. W. Fores, captures the boisterous social scene of Bath, England's famed spa resort. This hand-colored etching and aquat depicts a crowded dance floor teeming with men and women Regency-era finery, their exaggerated poses conveying chaotic revelry amid the "comforts" fashionable leisure. Part of Rowlandson's series poking fun at's elite visitors—who flocked there for therapeutic waters, gambling, and flirtations—this plate humorously exposes the overcrowding and indecorous behavior beneat...
About the Artist
Thomas Rowlandson|S. W. Fores · 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...