Morning Noon and Night

Thomas McLean|William Heath ('Paul Pry')

ca. 1829 · Hand-colored etching · Drawings and Prints

Heath here uses different times of day to comment on a fashionable lady's dress and activities. At left, a belle wakes in a curtained bed, wearing a ruffled night cap with a matching robe draped over a chair. At center she is ready to go out in a dark green coat with puffed sleeves worn over a ruffled gown, a large black hat decorated with flowers and ribbons. For evening, at right, she has changed into a pink gown with puffled sleeves, a cross-ribboned bodice and small ruff. Its elevated hem, encircled with an embroidered band, reveals small feet in ribboned slippers. Like many of Heath's prints from this period, it is signed with a small top-hatted dandy holding an umbrella–Paul Pry, a nosy character from a play.

Artist

Thomas McLean|William Heath ('Paul Pry')

Date

ca. 1829

Medium

Hand-colored etching

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Jill Spalding, 2022