A Print Sale – A Night Auction

1788

Not on view

Rowlandson here describes the interior of a sale-room lit by a chandelier. Conoisseurs, observors and potential buyers sit on benches behind trestle-tables arranged in an arc, with additional figures standing at the back. The auctioneer Hassel Hutchins raises his hammer at center as his clerk, Judd, writes at a small table, his form bathed in shadow. Attendants display lots, including a large volume held open for a group at left that includes the spectacled figure of the antiquary Dr. Michael Lort, librarian to the Duke of Devonshire as librarian. Framed pictures hang on the walls and statuettes adorn a chimney-piece.

Artwork Details

Title: A Print Sale – A Night Auction
Series/Portfolio: Imitations of Modern Drawings
Etcher: Thomas Rowlandson (British, London 1757–1827 London)
Sitter: Hassel Hutchens (British, active 1784–95)
Sitter: Dr. Michael Lort (British, 1725–1790)
Sitter: Judd (British, 1784–89)
Date: 1788
Medium: Etching
Dimensions: Plate: 7 1/16 × 10 3/4 in. (18 × 27.3 cm)
Sheet: 8 1/4 × 11 15/16 in. (21 × 30.3 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1959
Object Number: 59.533.280
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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Landscape with Figures on Horseback, Another Resting Under a Gnarled Tree, and a Cottage at Right Nestled in Trees, Thomas Rowlandson British, Soft-ground etching and aquatint — Landscape with Figures on Horseback, Another Resting Under a Gnarled Tree, and a Cottage at Right Nestled in Trees
Etcher Thomas Rowlandson
After Thomas Gainsborough
1784–88

"Royal George" Cello, William Forster British, Spruce, maple, ebony, British — "Royal George" Cello
William Forster
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Nocturne: Palaces, James McNeill Whistler American, Etching and drypoint; printed in dark brown ink on drum mounted medium weight ivory laid paper. — Nocturne: Palaces
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A Fair – A Group of Gypsies – Men and Women in Rustic Clothes in Front of Two Makeshift Tents, Thomas Rowlandson British, Etching — A Fair – A Group of Gypsies – Men and Women in Rustic Clothes in Front of Two Makeshift Tents
Etcher Thomas Rowlandson
After Francis Wheatley
1786

Gamba Bow, Wood, British — Gamba Bow
British
first half 18th century

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