The Dandy and his Postillion–or the Waay to laugh up Hill
A dandy astride a velocipede is pulled uphill by a large dog urged on by a monkey-groom. A less fortunate rider carries his vehicle on his shoulder and mops his brow. Heath devoted a series of satires to velocipedes--foot-propelled bikes popularly known as hobbies--in response to a craze that swept fashionable London in 1819. That year Denis Johnson promoted a British model that he based on an 1817 design developed in Baden by Baron Karl von Drais (called a Laufmachine (running machine) or Draisine). The craze soon subsided as accidents mounted, and high fines were issued to those who rode on sidewalks.
Artwork Details
- Title: The Dandy and his Postillion–or the Waay to laugh up Hill
- Artist: Attributed to William Heath ('Paul Pry') (British, Northumbria 1794/95–1840 Hampstead)
- Publisher: Thomas Tegg (British, London 1776–1846 London)
- Published in: London
- Date: 1819
- Medium: Etching, hand-colored
- Dimensions: Plate: 9 3/4 × 13 3/4 in. (24.7 × 35 cm)
Sheet: 10 1/8 × 16 5/8 in. (25.7 × 42.3 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Gift of Lincoln Kirstein, 1952
- Object Number: 52.546.15
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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William Heath ('Paul Pry')
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1830
William Heath ('Paul Pry')
Thomas McLean
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Multiple artists/makers
1827–29
William Heath ('Paul Pry')
Thomas McLean
1828–29
William Heath ('Paul Pry')
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