Charity covereth a multitude of sins

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Thomas Rowlandson
1756-1827
Charity covereth a multitude of sins
etching
image: 315 x 249; sheet: 345 x 251 cm
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1900.
Peel 2337
Published: 
[London] : Pub. as the Act direts [sic] Nov. 27 1781 by H. Humphrey ..., [1781]
Provenance: 
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Notes: 

Artist from BM Satires.
Closley trimmed to image.

Summary: 

"A young military officer wearing a gorget stands at the door of a house, his left hand on the knocker, looking up at two courtesans who lean out of a sash-window over the door. He puts a coin into the hat of a disabled sailor who stands behind him, supported on crutches, his forehead bandaged. Behind the sailor are two itinerant musicians: a man carrying a rectangular box, and a woman turning the handle of a mechanical organ which is slung round her neck, her mouth is open as if singing. The door of the house is ornamented with a carved wooden pediment, and bears a plate "Mrs Mitchel". The knocker has a lion's head. Only the corner of the house appears, the street is "Cleveland Row". A brick wall extends from the house to the left, over it appear trees, and a notice-board inscribed "Men Traps are laid here: every Night also ...." On the wall a placard is pasted, "Dr Leaks Pills. . . "."--British Museum online catalogue.

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