Hungry Rats in an Empty Barn
published March 1806
Medium
Hand-colored etching on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
;245 × 342 mm (image) 250 × 352 mm (plate); 273 × 383 mm (sheet)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
89918
Art Historical Context
Charles Williams’s “Hungry Rats in an Empty Barn,” published in March 1806, offers a striking example of early-nineteenth-century British printmaking. Executed as a hand-colored on ivory laid paper, the work measures roughly 245 by 342 millimeters in the image area. This modest yet carefully finished sheet reflects the period’s growing demand for affordable, reproducible imagery that could reach a wide public. Etching combined with delicate hand-coloring allowed artists to produce multiple impressions efficiently while still adding individual vibrancy to each print. Such works often circulate...
About the Artist
Charles Williams · 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...