The Departure
Medium
Hand-colored etching
Dimensions
Plate: 9 5/8 × 13 11/16 in. (24.4 × 34.8 cm) Sheet (trimmed): 10 in. × 14 1/16 in. (25.4 × 35.7 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
59.533.1887
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the lively world of 18th-century British satire with *The Departure*, a hand-colored etching published on April 29, 1784. Created byaver William Humphrey in collaboration with caricaturist Thomas Rowlandson and featuring prominent Whig politician Charles James Fox alongside the glamorous Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, this print exemplifies the era's sharp political commentary. Rowlandson's exaggerated style captures the absurdity of public figures, using donkeys as symbols of folly or stubborn opposition, poking fun at the turbulent politics following the American Revolutionary W...