Songs: "While happy in my Native Land..."
Medium
Soft-ground etching
Dimensions
Image: 8 1/16 × 9 7/16 in. (20.4 × 24 cm) Sheet: 11 × 14 15/16 in. (28 × 38 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Wilbur Macey Stone, 1921
Accession Number
21.94.2(19)
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
Art Historical Context
Created in 1822 British artist Henry Thomas Al and published by ThomasLean, this soft-ground etching belongs to a series of song-themed prints Alken, celebrated for his witty sporting and satirical scenes, the medium’s ability to mimic the soft, fluid lines of a drawing, giving the composition a lively, sketch-like quality that suited humorous subjects. The work depicts men and women gathered with musical instruments, evoking the title’s patriotic lyric while gently satirizing social conventions of the Regency era. Such prints circulated widely, offering middle-class audiences affordable comm...
About the Artist
Henry Thomas Alken|Thomas McLean (British|British) · 1785 |1788 –1851 |1875
British, London 1785–1851 London|British, 1788–1875