The Dead Alive!
Medium
Hand-colored etching
Dimensions
Sheet: 10 5/8 × 14 7/8 in. (27 × 37.8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1959
Accession Number
59.533.503
Tags
Art Historical Context
Created in July 1795, *The Dead Alive!* a hand-colored etching by the acclaimed British caricaturist Thomas Rowlandson, in collaboration with publisher William Holland and artist Henry Wigstead Measuring 10 5/8 × 14 7/8 inches, this print exemplifies the vibrant satirical tradition of late 18th-century England Rowlandson, a master of exaggerated humor, often lampooned social follies, politics, and human vices through witty, grotesque scenes, aligning this work with the caricature movement that flourished amid the Enlightenment's spirit of critique. The title evokes themes of fear and deceptio...
About the Artist
Thomas Rowlandson|William Holland|Henry Wigstead · 1756–1827
Thomas Rowlandson (1757–1827) was an English artist and caricaturist whose satirical watercolors and prints captured the social life of Georgian Britain with unparalleled wit and technical mastery. Alongside James Gillray, he is recognized as one of the greatest British graphic artists, and his distinctive flowing line and keen observations have made his work integral to understanding late 18th an...