Desire (Le Brun Travested, or Caricatures of the Passions)

A hand-colored etching in which an elderly man in a green coat and spectacles leans toward a young woman in a pink bodice and white bonnet, her eyes closed. He presses a hand to his chest while she tilts her head away in a satirical courtship scene. Brown ink lines and soft washes outline the figures against a pale ground.

Look closer: The small printed caption in italic lettering along the bottom edge, with the publication credit, is easy to overlook.

Artist

Thomas Rowlandson

Date

February 21, 1800

Medium

Hand-colored etching, printed in brown ink

Source

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Size

2755 × 3704 px

Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1959