A Print Sale – A Night Auction

Thomas Rowlandson

1788 · Etching · Drawings and Prints

Rowlandson here describes the interior of a sale-room lit by a chandelier. Conoisseurs, observors and potential buyers sit on benches behind trestle-tables arranged in an arc, with additional figures standing at the back. The auctioneer Hassel Hutchins raises his hammer at center as his clerk, Judd, writes at a small table, his form bathed in shadow. Attendants display lots, including a large volume held open for a group at left that includes the spectacled figure of the antiquary Dr. Michael Lort, librarian to the Duke of Devonshire as librarian. Framed pictures hang on the walls and statuettes adorn a chimney-piece.

Artist

Thomas Rowlandson

Date

1788

Medium

Etching

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1933