Cajus demonstreert Rugby hoe hij Hugh heeft verslagen
Medium
etching
Dimensions
60; 117
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Vervaardigd voor William Shakespeares 'The Merry Wives of Windsor'. Latere staat gebruikt voor: Goettinger Taschen Calender vom Jahr 1787. Göttingen: Johann Christoph Dietrich, 1786.
Art Historical Context
Daniel Nikolaus Chodowie's etching *Cajus demonstre Rugby hoe hij Hugh heeftlagen* (1786) captures a lively comedic moment William Shakespeare's *The Merry of Windsor*. The title, translating from Dutch as "Caius Demonstrates to Rugby How Heeated Hugh," depicts theous French doctor Caiusfully reenacting his supposed victory over the Welsh parson Sir Hugh Evans for his servant Rugby. This scene highlights the play's farce, blending cultural clashes and mistaken identities in the whimsical town of Windsor, a favorite for 18th-century illustrators. Created as an illustration for Shakespeare's comedy, the work appeared in a later state in the *Goettinger Taschen-Calender vom Jahr 1787*, published in Göttingen by Johann Christoph Dietrich. Chodowiecki, a leading German engraver of the Rococo era and director of the Berlin Academy of Arts, excelled in small-scale etchings like this one (117mm × 60mm), using fine lines and expressive figures to convey humor and character with remarkable clarity and economy. This pocket-sized print reflects the era's booming market for affordable literary illustrations, popularizing Shakespeare across Europe. Chodowiecki's precise etching technique made his works ideal for calendars and books, bridging theater and visual art while preserving the Bard's wit for everyday audiences.
About the Artist
Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki · 1726–1801
Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki (1726–1801) was a German painter and printmaker of Polish-Huguenot descent who became the most celebrated graphic artist in 18th-century Germany. Born in Danzig (now Gdańsk), he created approximately 2,000 etchings that serve as an invaluable visual record of German bourgeois life during the Enlightenment. Largely self-taught, Chodowiecki moved to Berlin in 1743 and ach...