Parson Adams Betrayed into an Unhappy Dunking Scene, from "The Adventures of Joseph Andrews, and his friend Mr. Abraham Adams"
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet: 4 3/8 × 6 1/16 in. (11.1 × 15.4 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
59.533.561(6)
Tags
Art Historical Context
This lively etching captures a humorous mishap from Henry Fielding’s 1742 novel *The Adventures of Joseph Andrews*, in which the kind-hearted Parson Abraham Adams finds himself unexpectedly dunked in water. Created in 1792 by Thomas Rowlandson, one of Britain’s leading caricaturists, the print brings Fielding’s satirical tale of virtue, class, and folly to life for late-eighteenth-century audiences. Rowlandson’s spirited line work exaggerates the parson’s startled expression and the surrounding figures, turning a literary moment into a visual comedy of errors. As an etching, the medium allowe...
About the Artist
Henry Fielding|James Sibbald|Thomas Rowlandson (British|British) · 1707 |1757 –1754 |1827
British, 1707–1754|British, London 1757–1827 London