Comedy Spectators, Tragedy Spectators

Comedy Spectators, Tragedy Spectators

Social satire, Medicine in art

In this print and the one opposite, Rowlandson illustrates two different types of playhouses and their audiences in English theatre during his time. This print portrays the attendance of two different productions at the same “patent” or “legitimate” theatre, licensed by the state, where mostly classic works of approved taste were performed. Note the program with the title of Romeo and Juliet (printed backwards) on which the genteel woman in the lower image rests her hand holding a fan. While she uses the other hand to daintily wipe away a tear, another woman receives smelling salts to revive her from a faint. Even the group in the upper image, although heartily amused, is well-dressed and well-behaved.

Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827)

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S. W. Fores, London

1789

Debra Cashion, in collaboration with Elisabeth Barrett, '15

Hand-colored etching; original dimensions, 372 x 265 mm

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Still image

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