Edward Williams the Elder
Edward Williams the Elder worked in the printmaking traditions of late eighteenth-century Britain, where stippled engraving and hand-colored etching were used to carry satirical and social subjects onto paper. Two sheets in this archive represent that practice, one an example of stippled engraving and the other a hand-colored etching with stipple and soft ground, both dated 1787 by the Met and including impressions that may have been printed later. Titles such as Polygamy and A College Scene, or a Fruitless Attempt on the Purse of Old Square-toes point to the moral and humorous themes his prints addressed. Together the pair offers a compact view of his technique and range within the graphic output of the period.
2 works in the collection · All public domain (CC0)
