A man suffering from depressed spirits ("hypochondria"), being tormented by doleful spectres. Coloured etching by T. Rowlandson after J. Dunthorne, 1788.
- Dunthorne, James, active 1780-1792.
- Date:
- 1 March 1788
- Reference:
- 18127i
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Description
The visions from left to right: A cauliflower-eared man drinking from a wine glass; a man, haunted by a serpent, preparing to cut his throat; a man driving a hearse whipping his horse; a woman's torso hanging limply upside-down; two lunatic faces; a hand with a sword; a ghoulish old maid holding a cloth and a rope, handing a pistol out of the shadows to the hypochondriac; a frenzied skeleton preparing to stab with an arrow
Publication/Creation
London (50 Poland Street, Pantheon) : T. Rowlandson, 1 March 1788.
Physical description
1 print : etching, with watercolour ; image 36.6 x 54.2 cm
Lettering
The hypochondriac ...
Lettering continues: The Mind distemper'd - say, what potent charm, /Can Fancy's spectre - brooding rage disarm? / Physics prescriptive, art assails in vain,/ The dreadful phantoms floating 'cross the brain!/ Until with Esculapian skill, the sage M.D./ Finds out at length by self-taught palmistry,/ The hopeless case - in the reluctant fee:/ Then, not in torture such a wretch to keep,/ One pitying bolus lays him sound a sleep! Design'd by James Dunthorne. Etch'd by T. Rowlandson
References note
British Museum, Catalogue of political and personal satires, vol. VI, London 1938, no. 7449
Reference
Wellcome Collection 18127i
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Location Status Access Closed stores