print
- Museum number
- 1856,0510.1
- Title
-
Object: Scene from the Beggar's Opera; Captain Macheath, Lucy and Polly
-
Series: Royal Gallery of British Art
- Description
-
Captain Macheath in Newgate prison, ankles fettered, sitting back carefree in his chair leaning on a table holding a glass in his left hand, the other at his breast, while Polly Peachum leans proprietorily on his shoulder, claiming him as her husband and smiling at Polly Peachum, who sits at the other end of the table, hands clasped, rebuking him for having promised to marry her, while three other women with babies or pregnant, who come to claim him as their husband, are visible waiting in the doorway in the background to right; after Newton; state before letter with production details only. 1838
Etching and engraving on chine collé
- Production date
- 1838
- Dimensions
-
Height: 358 millimetres
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Width: 506 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- According to ODNB, the 'Royal Gallery of British Art' was the most ambitious publication of the brothers William and Edward Finden, though sadly unprofitable: a set of forty-eight plates after the most notable painters of the day, published by them with the collaboration of others, between 1838 and 1840. There is a full set in BM P&D: 1856,0510.1-48
- Location
- Not on display
- Associated titles
Associated Title: The Beggar's Opera
- Acquisition date
- 1856
- Acquisition notes
- According to the register 1856,0510.1 to 48 (proofs of Finden's 'Gallery of British Art') were purchased at an unidentified sale at Sotheby's.
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1856,0510.1
