Locomotion: Walking by Steam, Riding by Steam, Flying by Steam

Art Historical Context

In the early 19th, amid Britain's Industrial Revolution, artist Robert Seymour captured the public's fascination—and trepidation—with emerging steam technology in his satirical hand-colored etching *Locomotion: Walking by, Riding by Steam, by Steam* (ca. 1830). Published by McLean, a prominent London caricaturist, this print humorously exaggerates the era's rapid innovations in transportation. Steam locomotives were transforming rail travel, steamboats conquering rivers and seas, and even balloonists experimenting with steam-powered flight, all promising unprecedented speed but often delivering chaos and peril. Seymour's etching, measuring about 9¾ x 13¾ inches, employs the vivid technique of hand-coloring to bring its caricatured scenes to life. Men and women bustle through absurd vignettes: pedestrians propelled by backpack boilers, riders atop explosive steam coaches, and aviators in precariously steaming contraptions. As a master of caricature, Seymour belonged to a vibrant tradition of satirical printmaking that critiqued social change, much like contemporaries James Gillray or George Cruikshank. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department (gift of Paul Bird Jr., 1962), this work highlights the cultural shift from horse-drawn days to mechanized modernity. It reminds us how humor helped audiences grapple with technology's promise and pitfalls, offering a witty snapshot of 1830s optimism laced with explosive satire.

About the Artist

Robert Seymour|Thomas McLean (British|British) · 1798 |1788 –1836 |1875

British, Somerset 1798–1836 London|British, 1788–1875