
Read the visual description
The image shows three individuals: an elderly woman, a younger woman, and an older man. The elderly woman is seated in an armchair, with her full body visible, wearing a pink dress with puffed sleeves and a bonnet. Her facial expression is weary, eyes slightly closed, and she is resting her head back on the chair. The younger woman is standing beside the chair, her upper body visible, bending slightly forward toward the seated woman. She has loose curly blonde hair, adorned with a ribbon and a white bonnet. She wears a yellow dress with lace details and holds a lit candle on a brass holder. The older man is seated on the floor, his full body visible, leaning forward with closed eyes and holding his face. He is dressed in a light blue coat with white lace trimming and holds a hat and a walking stick. The scene is set against a textured, abstract background with muted tones of gray and green. The artist's signature and the date "1792" appear in the lower left corner, and below the image is the title "A Bawd on Her Last Legs."
National Gallery of Art · Print
A Bawd on Her Last Legs
Thomas Rowlandson (artist); S W Fores (publisher)
- Date
- 1784, published 1792
- Medium
- etching, aquatint, and lift-ground aquatint with hand coloring on laid paper
- Dimensions
- sheet (trimmed within platemark): 27.5 × 37.5 cm (10 13/16 × 14 3/4 in.)
- Classification
- Accession number
- 1945.5.204
- Credit line
- Rosenwald Collection
- Time span
- 1776 to 1800
- Department
- CG-E
Subjects and terms
- British
- Seated figure
- Woman
- Man
- Writing
- Blood
Inscription
in plate, in image, at lower left: T. Rowlandson / 1792; in plate, below image, at center: A BAWD ON HER LAST LEGS. / Pub Oct.r 1 1792 by SW Fores No 3 Piccadilly
NGA object ID 30981. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.