Thomas Rowlandson 1756-1827 British School 18th/19th.Century. "The Coblers Cure for a Scolding Wife", Etching published by Thomas Tegg, 1813. 13.5" x 9" (34.3 x 22.8cm). Provenance: J Vokins, London.
A study in human savagery. A cobbler stands over his wife, a scold who is tied to a chair with her wrists bound. With his awl between his teeth he pulls at the thread with which he is stitching up her mouth. A buxom young woman leans delightedly over the pair, lighting the work with a small candle.
Rowlandson was a chronicler of London life both low and high. Less inclined to political comment than his contemporaries Gilray and Cruikshank he chose instead to focus of the foibles, fancies and failings of common society. His drawings were always harsh and frequently grotesque, even repulsive. The figures in his work are rarely, if ever, held up for our admiration but rather in accordance with his maxim of 1802 that "Man is the only creature endowed with the power of laughter, is he not also the only one that deserves to be laughed at?"