Miseries of London [graphic] / Rowlandson.

[London] : Designd. & pubd. July 14, 1812, by T. Rowlandson, N. 1 James St., Adelphi, [14 July 1812]

1 print : etching with stipple ; sheet 33 x 24 cm

wove paper

Temporary local subject terms: Fish nets -- Watermen.

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.

"A fat woman laden with basket, bottles, bundle, &c. descends steps to the waterside, blown by the wind and beset by five bawling watermen, who point towards their boats. Behind (right), other men hail an approaching passenger. The bows of two Thames wherries are on the left; in one a young waterman stands punting his boat. The watermen wear short full-skirted coats with knee-breeches and have large oval badges on the arm. Part of an old timber building forms a background to the group on the stairs. It has a large placard: 'Wapping Old Stairs'. From a projecting upper floor a man and girl look down, amused, the man smoking a long pipe. In the foreground (right) a chubby fisherman's boy sleeps in a dinghy on a pile of nets. There is a background of ships at anchor, a riverside church flying a flag, and a timber building with a large beam projecting over the water from which hangs a barrel."--British Museum online catalogue.

English

April 29, 2008