New Invented Elastic Breeches
1812 (?)
Medium
Hand-colored etching
Dimensions
Sheet (trimmed and inlaid): 9 3/4 × 12 3/4 in. (24.8 × 32.4 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
59.533.78
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the early 19th century, British satire flourished through the sharp wit of artists like Thomas Rowlandson, renowned for his caricatures lampooning society's follies. Collaborating with John Nixon, Rowlandson created *New Invented Elastic Bre* around 1812, a hand-colored etching that playfully skewers the era's obsession with innovative fashion. This trimmed sheet, now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department, captures the Regency period's blend of elegance and absurdity in men's attire. The print humorously depicts men grappling with "elastic breeches"—a no...
About the Artist
Thomas Rowlandson|John Nixon · 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...