(click image to enlarge)
‘The date of this plate has been altered; it was probably published in 1802, and re-issued later, a common occurrence with Rowlandson’s prints. Bitter Fare, or Sweeps Regaling, was, as it seems likely, designed as a companion to Love and Dust (1792) and it partakes of the same ragged inspiration. In the hovel tenanted by the somewhat undesirable ‘Chummey family’, smoke is the prevalent element; the sooty company, sufficiently black and begrimed in their own persons, seem perfectly in their element before a smoking fireplace – as they are reposing luxuriously on sacks of soot. The heads of the family are amiably sharing their enjoyments, drinking beer from a pewter measure, and smoking long clay pipes; the sweeper lads, but for a coat of soot comparatively unclad, are revelling amidst the cinders on the hearth, divided between the congenial relaxations of eating porridge and tormenting an unfortunate cat. Brushes, shovels, and the professional belongings of chimney-sweeping are scattered about; the only article of fancy admitted into the establishment is a blackbird, which is possibly present on the ground that its hue offers a resemblance to the general complexion.’
Joseph Grego, Rowlandson the Caricaturist, London: Chatto and Windus, 1880, vol II, page 233.
Etchings with alternate dates are in the collections of the Royal Collection Trust (1803) and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1812).
8 & 10 Ryder Street, St James’s, London SW1Y 6QB
gallery@chrisbeetles.com
020 7839 7551
© Chris Beetles Ltd 2024 | Accessibility | Privacy | Sitemap
