The Sentinel Mistakes Tom Jones for an Apparition, from "The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling"
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet: 4 5/8 × 6 5/8 in. (11.8 × 16.8 cm) Plate: 4 1/2 × 6 3/8 in. (11.5 × 16.2 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(5)
Tags
Art Historical Context
This etching by Thomas Rowlandson captures a humorous moment from Henry Fielding’s beloved 1749 novel, *The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling*. Titled *The Sentinel Mistakes Tom Jones for an Apparition*, the scene depicts a startled guard mistaking the novel’s roguish hero for a ghostly figure, highlighting the story’s blend of adventure, mistaken identity, and social comedy. Rowlandson, a leading caricaturist of the late eighteenth century, created this print in 1792 to accompany a new edition of the classic work. As an etching, the medium allowed Rowlandson’s lively line work and exaggerate...
About the Artist
Henry Fielding|Thomas Rowlandson (British|British) · 1707 |1757 –1754 |1827
British, 1707–1754|British, London 1757–1827 London