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Wit and wisdom
Title
Wit and wisdom.
Publication
[London] : Pubd. 15 May 1786, by E. Jackson, No. 14, Mary-bone Street. Golden Square, [15 May 1786]
Physical Description
1 print : etching ; sheet 25.7 x 28 cm
Medium
wove paper.
Local Notes
Temporary local subject terms: Scots cap -- Grouse -- Ogden -- Lobster -- Fireplace with hanging pots -- Servants.
Notes
Title etched below image.
One in a series of twenty plates by Rowlandson after S. Collings. See British Museum catalogue, v. 6, page 345.
Plate from: Picturesque beauties of Boswell, Part the First. [London] : [E. Jackson], [1786]
Three lines of verse below title: "We gave him as good a dinner as we could. Our Scotch muir-fowl, or growse, were then abundant ..." Vide Journal p. 123.
Sheet trimmed within plate mark.
Provenance
From a collection in fourteen volumes compiled by Francis Harvey and dispersed at auction, Sotheby, London, June 1900. Sold at Sotheby, London, 12 March 1919. Bequest of Hugh Dudley Auchincloss to Yale University Library, 1981. Bound by Riviere & Son in three-quarters red morocco with gold tooling and gold lettering on spine.
From a collection in fourteen volumes compiled by Francis Harvey and dispersed at auction, Sotheby, London, June 1900. Sold at Sotheby, London, 12 March 1919. Bequest of Hugh Dudley Auchincloss to Yale University Library, 1981. Bound by Riviere & Son in three-quarters red morocco with gold tooling and gold lettering on spine.
Summary
"Boswell and his wife in the kitchen prepare a dinner for Johnson, who is seen in back view through an open street-door on the extreme left. They face each other smiling across a small, ramshackle table; Boswell is cutting off the neck of a grouse (which resembles a duck or goose). He wears the Scots cap and the pen behind the ear of BMSat 7031, &c., with an apron. From his pocket project 'Ogden' (see BMSat 7031) and the 'Journal'. Mrs. Boswell holds a rolling-pin. Behind (right) is a slatternly maidservant in back view looking to the left with a smile. On the ground are two piles of large birds intended for grouse, and an enormous lobster. Behind is a primitive kitchen fireplace; two large pots are suspended over the fire. The spit rests horizontally above the fireplace."--British Museum online catalogue.
Format
Images
Language
English
Added to Catalog
November 09, 2006
References
Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum, v. 6, no. 7038
Grego, J. Rowlandson the caricaturist, v. 1, page 194
Subjects
Subjects (Local Yale)
Genre/Form
Satires (Visual works) - England - 1786.
Etchings - England - London - 1786.
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