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Dropsy Courting Consumption

Publisher Thomas Tegg British
October 25, 1810
Not on view
Rowlandson here contrasts fatness and thinness to weave a broad social parody. Two courting couples, embodying four extremes of age and body type, demonstrate the maxim that opposites attract. In the foreground a short obese man has fallen to his knees to declare his devotion to a tall, ematicated woman. The title hints that the two also suffer from opposing ailments, since consumption (tuberculosis) is a wasting disease and dropsy (edema) causes swelling. In the garden behind, the equation is reversed, with an elderly thin man in an old-fashioned suit escorting a plump young girl. The foreground mausoleum, with its heavy rotunda surrounded by slender columns, contributes to the visual game. Finally, a distant statue of Hercules on a pedestal represents the classical ideal that all those present spectacularly fail to attain.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Dropsy Courting Consumption
  • Artist: Thomas Rowlandson (British, London 1757–1827 London)
  • Publisher: Thomas Tegg (British, London 1776–1846 London)
  • Date: October 25, 1810
  • Medium: Hand-colored etching
  • Dimensions: Plate: 13 11/16 x 9 11/16 in. (34.7 x 24.6 cm)
    Sheet: 15 5/8 x 10 7/16 in. (39.7 x 26.5 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1959
  • Object Number: 59.533.1212
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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