Woman swearing a child [graphic] / W. Hogarth pinxt. ; J. Mills sculpt.

[London] : [publisher not identified], publish'd March 1798.

1 print : etching ; sheet 12.2 x 13 cm

wove paper.

George Steevens bequeathed this collection to William Windham (1750-1810). At Windham's death, the collection was put up for sale on 20 July 1810 and was bought in by Mrs. Windham at 292 guineas; by descent through the Windham family; Sotheby's, 17 February 1919 to Dyson Perrins for £400; Sotheby's sale including Property of the Late C.W. Dyson Perrins, Esq., 11 June 1959, lot 100 purchased by Maggs Bros. for W.S. Lewis for £1300.

A pregnant young woman standing to the right, swearing on a book before a magistrate who sits at a bench to left with a book in front of him, that the child is by an old man wearing a dark wig with a ruff hanging at his waist, while he raises his hands and eyes to heaven, protesting innocence, his wife, wearing a coif and bonnet shakes her fist, upbraiding him, and the true father, a young man, crouches behind the woman, whispering counsel; beside the magistrate to left, a little girl sits teaching a dog to walk on its hind legs.

English

January 28, 2016