Watercolor with pen and gray and black ink on medium, slightly textured, cream wove paper
Dimensions:
Mount: 5 1/2 x 8 1/8 inches (14 x 20.6 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1975.3.51
Gallery Label:
This view of Bath belongs to a series of satirical drawings of the fashionable spa town that Rowlandson made in preparation for The Comforts of Bath, a set of twelve aquatints published in 1798. All expose an unruly underside to the supposedly polite lifestyle of Bath. In this example Rowlandson focuses on a less than attentive concert audience. While a gentleman in red tries to listen to the music, two women in the front row vie for his attention. At the back a lecherous old man attempts to charm an uninterested young woman; others are clearly deep in conversation, oblivious to the soprano’s singing; while at the front a drunken man has lost consciousness. Gallery label for Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2008-06-09 - 2008-08-17)
