37/2004

Collection

Paintings, Prints and Drawings

Brief description

Hand-coloured etching, entitled 'An HEIR at LAW', drawn by George Moutard Woodward and published by S.W Fores in London in 1808.

Title

AN HEIR at LAW

Object name

Object number

37/2004

Production person

George Moutard Woodward (artist)

Production organisation

S.W Fores (publisher)

Production date

1808 (published)

Production place

London (published)

Period

Georgian (1714-1837)

Material

paper

Technique

etched
hand coloured

Physical description

Hand-coloured etching on paper with title and publication line printed below, mounted and with a visible plate mark.

Content description

This print depicts an old gentleman wearing a dressing gown and night cap seated at a table with a woman and his brother in law. The table has two decanters, two wine glasses and a book entitled 'Aristotle' on top of which are a pair of spectacles. The woman scowls menacingly at her brother who sits opposite her. Her husband says, 'Well Brother in Law, for so I must call you now, I am happy to see you in Town, your sister here was an excellent Housekeeper and I have made her my wife, but the worst of it is, some how or other we cannot get any children, and I must own I should like to have an Heir to my Estate'. The very bucolic brother-in-law sits grinning with a hand on each knee. He answers: "Why Nan Nan—how is this—thee use'd to manage better in the Country.—why please your ould Honor—she had two chopping boys at a time by our Neighbour Farmer Stubble—and I know him so well—that I am sure he would let you have one of em for merely axing!!!" A footman in fashionable livery stands behind his master, the old gentleman, and listens with sly amusement. He stands in front of a sideboard on top of which are two wine glasses, a full decanter, a corkscrew, a dish, a mallet-shaped glass wine bottle and a knife box.

Content object

decanter
table
chair
wine glass
corkscrew

Dimensions

Height: 27.5cm
Width: 42.8cm

Website keywords

serving drink
serving food
tables
seating