Matthew Bramble Offering Charity to the Ensign's Widow, an illustration from Tobias Smollett's "The Expedition of Humphry Clinker" (London, 1793), Vol. 1
Medium
Etching and engraving
Dimensions
Sheet: 4 1/2 × 6 1/2 in. (11.5 × 16.5 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
59.533.562(1)
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the sentimental world of 18th British literature with *Matthew Bramble Offering Charity to Ensign's Widow*, a poignant illustration from Tobias Smollett's beloved epistolary novel *The Expedition of Humphry Cl* (1771). This 1793 London edition print captures a key moment where the gruff but kind-hearted protagonist, Matthew Br, extends aid to a destitute widow in a modest interior. Smollett's final work satirizes society while celebrating human benevolence, and this scene exemplifies its mix of humor and pathos amid the era's social inequalities. Rendered in etching and engraving by...
About the Artist
Thomas Rowlandson|Charles Grignion, I · 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...