Mrs. Showwell

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Thomas Rowlandson
1756-1827
Mrs. Showwell
hand colored etching
image: 188 x 131 mm; plate mark: 250 x 138 mm; sheet: 268 x 158 mm
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1900.
Peel 1919
Published: 
[London] : Pubd Febry 26. 1807 by T Rowlandson N I James Street Adelphi, 1807 February 26.
Provenance: 
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Notes: 

Lettered with title, artist's name and publication line "J N [Nixon] 1807 [Rowlandson fect]/ Pubd Febry 26. 1807 by T Rowlandson N I James Street Adelphi."
Attributed to Rowlandson by Grego.

Summary: 

Below the title: "The Woman who shews General Guise collection of Pictures at Oxford". She stands directed to the left., holding a pointer with which she slyly points to a picture of Suzanna and the Elders. She is old and grotesquely ugly, wearing a hat over a frilled cap, an apron, and bunched-up skirt. Her left hand is on her hip, a large key dangling from the fourth finger. A corner of the room is shown, the pictures fitted closely together; three rows are depicted, hung above a dado; a fourth is indicated. The pictures are very freely drawn, and one at least is burlesqued."

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