School for Modern Greeks

Thomas Rowlandson|Thomas Rowlandson|James Brydges Willyams

May 10, 1802 · Hand-colored etching · Drawings and Prints

In this seventh print of a group of eight, a young man raises a dice cup and prepares to throw. The title makes it clear that his success relies on cheating or "greeking," the accusatory gesture of the older man across the table a sign that he has been discovered. A coachman gnawing his whip at left seems ready to wreak revenge. Rowlandson etched this set after drawings by Willyams, a university-educated lieutenant-colonel from Cornwall who also supplied supporting satirical text under the pseudonym Joel McCringer. Rowlandson's characteristic elegance does not disguise the dark human impulses being satirized. Modern education, it is suggested, does little to teach self-control, wisdom or empathy.

Artist

Thomas Rowlandson|Thomas Rowlandson|James Brydges Willyams

Date

May 10, 1802

Medium

Hand-colored etching

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1959