Partridge cruelly accused and maltreated by his Wife, from "The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling"
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet: 4 15/16 × 7 1/8 in. (12.5 × 18.1 cm) Plate: 4 3/4 × 6 15/16 in. (12.1 × 17.7 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
59.533.560(2)
Tags
Art Historical Context
This etching captures a dramatic domestic scene from Henry Fielding’s beloved 1749 novel *The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling*. Titled *Partridge cruelly accused and maltreated by his Wife*, the print depicts the moment when the character Partridge faces his spouse’s wrath inside their modest home. Created in 1792 by the celebrated caricaturist Thomas Rowlandson, the work transforms Fielding’s literary satire into a vivid visual narrative that highlights the novel’s themes of mistaken identity, social folly, and marital strife. Rowlandson’s etching technique lends itself perfectly to the st...
About the Artist
Henry Fielding|Thomas Rowlandson (British|British) · 1707 |1757 –1754 |1827
British, 1707–1754|British, London 1757–1827 London