The Post Horse (from The Life of a Racehorse, or The High-Mettled Racer)
July 20, 1789
Medium
Etching and aquatint
Dimensions
Plate: 13 7/8 × 17 7/8 in. (35.2 × 45.4 cm) Sheet: 14 3/16 × 18 1/8 in. (36 × 46.1 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
59.533.330
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the late 18th century, British printmaking buzzed with satirical energy, and *The Post Horse* captures that spirit perfectly. Published on July 20, 1789, this etching and aquatint is part of the series *The Life of a Racehorse, or The High-Mettled Racer*, a humorous chronicle of a horse's adventurous life from racetrack to retirement. Created by the collaborative talents of caricaturist Thomas Rowlandson, artist John Hassell, and publisher S.W. Fores, it depicts a weary post horse—likely a stagecoach mount—resting at a well amid men and women, evoking the bustling world of travel and tavern...