Meeting in Freemasons' Hall, Great Queen Street, London
1800–1820
Medium
Hand-colored etching and aquatint
Dimensions
Sheet (trimmed): 12 1/16 × 16 3/4 in. (30.6 × 42.5 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
59.533.1159
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the lively world of early 19th-century London with Thomas Rowlandson's *Meeting in Freemasons' Hall, Great Street, London* (ca. 1800–1820). This hand-colored etching and aquat captures a bustling interior scene at the grand headquarters of the United Grand Lodge England, filled with men and women in spirited conversation. Rowlandson, a master of British satire, infuses the composition with his signature wit, poking fun at the secretive rituals and social pretensions of Freemasonry during the Regency era—a time when the fraternity's exclusivity and rumored mysteries fueled public fasc...
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...