A Cully Pillag'd
Original title: A Cully Pillag'd
kurzbeschreibung
Dated 1785, Thomas Rowlandson's etching A Cully Pillag'd presents a comic incident involving two men and a woman. The landscape-format sheet pairs close observation with caricatural exaggeration, staging what looks like a quarrel in an interior.
Description
Two men square off in the foreground: the one on the left wears a hat and jacket, the one on the right a jacket and breeches. Facing them at the right, a woman sits on a chair with her arms folded, watching the row unfold. A shuttered window hung with curtains, a table and a dog on the floor can be made out behind the group. The layout is lopsided by design, the figures filling the middle while the setting stays sketchier. Rendered in black and white, the etching keeps a realistic manner but gives its faces a caricaturist's twist, lit softly throughout.
Context
Rowlandson made this etching in England on 30 November 1785. Satirical prints were enjoying wide popularity in Britain at the time, and the artist was known for his humorous, often socially critical takes on everyday life. The subject probably draws on a contemporary theme of seduction or con-artist satire, though no specific historical occasion can be documented.
Impact
The lively grouping of the figures and their exaggerated features give the sheet an immediate sense of comedy and movement. Because the arrangement is unbalanced, attention settles on how the people interact, producing a mood that is tense yet entertaining. Printing in a single tone underlines the graphic, satirical character of the etching.
Technique
Etching is an intaglio process: the drawing is scratched through a wax layer on a copper plate, which is then bitten with acid. Rowlandson's lines are fine and precise, typical of how he worked. The plate measures roughly 25.2 × 35.2 cm; the print was pulled on paper of 28 × 38.3 cm.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)