Ladies Trading on Their Own Bottom
[October 5, 1810], reprint
Medium
Hand-colored etching
Dimensions
Plate: 8 5/16 × 9 15/16 in. (21.1 × 25.3 cm) Sheet: 9 7/16 × 14 7/16 in. (24 × 36.7 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
59.533.1359
Tags
Art Historical Context
Thomas Rowlandson's *Ladies Trading on Their Bottom* (1810) is a cheeky hand-colored etching that captures the spirit of Regency-era satire. Produced as a print during a time when British caricature flourished, Rowlandson, a master of bawdy humor, skewers social vices with exaggerated figures and witty wordplay. The title puns on the idiom "on one's own bottom," meaning self-reliant, while slyly nodding to the prostitutes depicted negotiating their trade independently—free from pimps but still entangled with leering men and the lure of money. This hand-colored etching exemplifies Rowlandson's...
About the Artist
Thomas Rowlandson · 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...