1761-1766

Note: John Bowles' inscriptions help to identify the approximate date for several prints. The inscription, "John Bowles & Son" dates its impressions to the early 1760's before his son, Carington Bowles, becomes independent around 1763 by, according to Sheila O'Connell, taking over the establishment vacated by his uncle Thomas Bowles. John Bowles dropped the inscription "at the Black Horse in Cornhill" after his shop was damaged by fire in 1766, relocating at "No. 13 in Cornhill" by 1768.

Courtesy of the Print Collection, New York Public Library

The Jealous Spaniard or Unequal Match

I. Carwithan fecit

Printed for John Bowles and Son, at the Black Horse in Cornhil

An older man, the Spaniard, stands in the background, frowning and stupidly sucking his fore finger as his lovely young wife reaches down from the window to hand off a letter. The verse reads:

Take out your Finger Don, and smooth your Brow,
This late Reflection cannot serve you now;
Know at thy Cost, when Age and Youth are wed,
The Matrimonial, is the Mourning Bed;//
Duegnas, Padlocks, Bolts, are all in vain,
The Fair will find some better-suited Swain,
Reveal her Passion by a Billet doux,
Throw up the Window, and escape from you.

32.8 x 23.9 cm.
New York Public Library (Satyr p. 30)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, New York Public Library

The MONASTIC Drone

Le Clare Pinxt. R. Houston Fecit

Printed for John Bowles & Son at the Black Horse in Cornhill

A monk sits with a buxom young woman in a churchyard. He is mending or embroidering a piece of cloth and appears transfixed by her breasts as she reaches toward him with another cloth. Behind them a man, partially hidden by a two large trees, is eavesdropping. To the left, the church provides the background. The verse reads:

Alas! how vain Religions awful Name,
The Drone Monastic blots it o'er with Shame,//
Quits Absolution, Penitence, and Pray'r,
Draws the soft Silk, and Trifles with the Fair.

32.5 x 24.5 cm.
New York Public Library(MEZYRK), Lewis Walpole Library (754.0.1)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, New York Public Library

RURAL Courtship

Amicilla Pinxt Houston Fecit.

Printed for John Bowles & Son at the Black Horse in Cornhil

A country maid (l.) kneels beside a basket with three hens that she may be taking to market. Her beau, a country fellow with a wheat spike in his hat, has turned away from the harvast to chuck the maiden under her chin and point to the basket. She rests her right hand on his arm, either caressing or coyly resisting his advance. A wheatsheaf and sickle lie at his feet, and a wood or grove forms the background. The verse reads:

Ye flattering Lovers ye Coquettish Fair,
Take pattern by this gen'rous artless Pair//
Whose mutual Smiles sincerer Pleasures give,
Than those ye from deluding Arts receive.

30.9 x 25.2 cm.
New York Public Library (Satyr p.172)

The Artfull Swain

133 London. Published by R. Sayer, Print-Seller, No. 53 Fleet Street

This impression is the reversed image of Rural Courtship (above), reduced from posture size, with the verse omitted.

14 x 11.5 cm.
New York Public Library

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University

THE SPORTSMAN TAKING REFRESHMENT

Junker pinxt. C. Spooner fecit

Two men sit, each at the end of a long table or bar. The one by the window (l.) smokes his clay pipe and gazes right. The other man, dressed like a cavalier, loops his arm over the back of his chair, his left hand holding his clay pipe. A spaniel lies at his feet, directed right, but looking back at the man nearby. To the left a third man also sits with one arm over the back of the chair, his other hand holding a mug.

Impressions citing publisher are inscribed "Printed for Jn. Bowles & Son, at the Black Horse in Cornhill London."

35.5 x 21.2 cm.
Lewis Walpole Library (colour, without publisher's inscription, 760.0.12)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University

Morning

Lancret pinxt. T. Burford fecit 1741

Printed for John Bowles & Son at the Black Horse in Cornhill

A young woman receives a clergyman for whom she is pouring a cup of tea. Her maid stands between the hostess and her dressing table. The verse links the scene to other satires on lusty clergymen:

This early visit to the Beautious Fair,--
Shews the Good Man's intent, and Pious care; //
Whose look confirms it--that he'd rather kiss--
The Lady's balmy Lips, than the Tea dish.

This is the first of a series after the French painter Nicholas Lancret (1690-1743) at the Lewis Walpole Library reflecting the times of the day. Though dated for the engraver to 1741, these are likely published later but before 1763, when John Bowles dropped "& Son" from his inscription and his son Carington set up his own firm.

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University

Noon

For this second of the series the setting is a garden with an elaborate fountain; two fish spew water into an urn overlooked by the figure of Cupid. Three young ladies attended by a gentleman talk and laugh. One reclines with her fan either being so amused that she has lost her balance or tapping her companion's skirt for a signal. One woman standing holds a fan, the other a bouquet. The young gentleman is either reaching for another Flower or looking through his hand at the Cupid. The verse suggests the latter:

Boast not my Power (thus Cupid seems to say),
Your Noon of Youth must like this Noon of Day //
Glide gently off! Nature will run her Course;
Youth's fires extinct, I'm then of little force.

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University

After-Noon

The gentleman and one young woman play at a cardtable set in a wood with the other two young women looking on. The game is backgammon and she, holding the cup, appears to have just thrown the die. His turning to the woman behind him may point to the verse's distinction between love and gambling:

In Love and Play, we equal hazards run
And by pursuing either are undone, //
The difference this, in Play we oft appeal,
In Love! our Reason from ourselves conceal.

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University

Night

In the last of the series, the young gentleman is now accompanied by four young women (or possibly the three women and a maid) as they bath by moonlight in a shallow stream or canal. All are wearing loose shifts. The man sits on the water's edge and raises his hand to shield himself from the girl in the stream who reaches to splash water on him. Another also wades and two others ride in a boat with a distinctive frame for a canvas cover. One is wringing out wet clothing and the other may be removing her stocking.

By the Moon's friendly shade, its Limpid Stream;
The Virgins sport! which had Leander seen,//
The Hellespont have crost, he ne'er have strove
For Hero's sake, but here had fixt his Love.

23.5 x 34.5 cm.
Lewis Walpole Library (741.0.15.18)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, New York Public Library

UNTITLED [Fill up the Mighty Sparkling Bowl]

I. Vander Myn pinxt. A. Vander Myn fecit

Printed for T. Bowles in St. Paul's Church Yard. J. Bowles and Son at the Black Horse in Cornhill

The inscription dates the print before 1763 when Carington Bowles took over Thomas Bowles' shop. It seems to anticipate the more well-known Carington Bowles mezzotint, The Sailor's Pleasure, (BMC 4496) in which a sailor similarly posed (though reversed) with a punchbowl lifts a glass high with his left hand and spills a bag of guineas out upon a table with his right. Here the figure is less dynamic; his right hand grips the glass resting the table, his left the punch ladle. The painting upper left appears to be a ship in a storm, and the verse identifies the figure as also a sailor:

Fill up the mighty sparkling Bowl
That I a true and Loyal Soul
May Drink & Sing without controul,
To support my Pleasure.
Thus may each Jolly Sailor live
When Fears and Dangers 0'er
For past Misfortunes never Grieve
When He's arriv'd on Shore.
Let not future Cares perplex him,
Let him Laugh and let him Sing,
While he now enjoys this Blessing
He's as great as any King.

31 x 25 cm.
New York Public Library (MEZYRK)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, New York Public Library

The Intriguing ABBE

Le Clare pinx. Houston fecit.

Printed for John Bowles--at the Black Horse in Cornhill

The scene is a garden with a grove of large trees for a background and a glimpse of a garden wall to the far right. In the center a young gentlewoman, seated on a bench, reads a book. A more plainly dressed girl, a companion or lady's maid, stands behind and gestures with spread hands. At the lady's feet a gentleman (l.) sits on the lawn, playing with a miniature spinning wheel that he props on his knees. His cane and cocked hat lie beside him. The connection between the image and the text inscribed below is clear:

Beware fond Nymph, The Youth's designing Art
Is spreading Snares to catch th'unguarded Heart.//
By Complaisance your Ruin Men persue,
They please, the more securely to undo.

"Abbe" would ordinarily indicate a man in ecclesiastical dress, not the case for this gentlemen, but it could also apply to a cleric who was serving as "a professor, private tutor, or master of a household." (OED) The attribution of the painting to "Le Clare" refers to Sebastian Le Clerc II (1676-1763).

32 x 25 cm.
New York Public Library (Satyr p.135)

The Burgomaster

Ostrade pinxt J. Watson fecit

Printed for John Bowles at the Black Horse in Cornhil, and Carington Bowles in St Pauls Church Yard, London

Seated in his study, the burgomaster, wearing spectacles, reads a letter, his head leaning on one hand propped on a ledger. Beside the ledger the table holds papers with seals, an inkwell and pen. Behind (r.) is a bookcase and bookstand, a window to the left. Bundles of papers hang on the wall. An early Sayer catalog ascribes the image to Rembrandt.

31.4 x 24.8 cm
Colonial Williamsburg (colour, 1971-473)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University

Domestick Amusement. The Fair Seamstress

Heilman pinxt. J. Watson fecit.

Printed for John Bowles at the Black Horse in Cornhil, & Carington Bowles in St Pauls Church Yard, London.

A young maid sits turned to the left concentrating on her sewing. On a small table to her side rests a pincushion and other sewing implements.

33 x 25 cm.
Lewis Walpole Library (colour, 764.0.9)

Domestick Amusement. The Lovely Spinner

Heilman pinxt. J. Watson fecit.

Printed for John Bowles at the Black Horse in Cornhil, & Carington Bowles in St Pauls Church Yard, London.

A young woman, turned to the right, looks up from her spinning wheel. Drapery (l.) and a marble fireplace (r.) forms the background.

32.4 x 25.6 cm.
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (1975-307), Lewis Walpole Library (764.0.10)

Note: Corbutt was a pseudonyn for the engraver Richard Purcell who died in 1766. The eleven prints that follow inscribed either to Purcell or Corbutt would be dated no later than the mid-1760s.

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Yale Center for British Art, Yale University

The Amourous Hollander

Ostade Pinxt. Phillip Corbutt fecit.

321

A man (l.) kneels to listen intently at the belly of a barmaid, likely for the stirrings of their child. He smiles and she looks content as she rests her hand on his shoulder. Behind her on a bench stands a tankard.

31.5 x 25 cm.
Yale Center for British Art (B1970.3.1111)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University

Correspondence

P. Mercier Pinxt. C. Corbutt Fecit

London, Printed for Robt Sayer, Map & Printseller, at No 53 in Fleet Street

A lovely young woman rests her head in her hand and looks wistfully off to the right. Her elbow rests on a writing box. Her right hand lingers over a letter with the feather pen loose in her hand. Another pen and inkwell as well as a distinctive lamp rest on the writing desk.

31.6 x 25.2 cm,
Lewis Walpole Library (colour without title or inscription as well as a copy inscribed The Studious Fair, "Sold by Edw Fisher in Leicester Fields, & by Ryland and Beyer in Cornhill"), Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (1971-495), Yale Center for British Art (untitled, B1970.3.1258); Huntington Library (untitled, 283000 36#61)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Yale Center for British Art, Yale University

Laugh and grow Fat

Chas. Corbet fecit

London. Printed for Robt. Sayer, No. 53 Fleet Street

A portly gentleman with his left hand on his hip laughs out loud and holds his right hand to his belly.

31.4 x 25.3 cm.
Yale Center for British Art (B1970.3.1110)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Yale Center for British Art, Yale University

Miss and her Kitten

P. Mercier pinxt C. Corbutt fecit

A pretty maid and the kitten she is holding look out at the viewer. The kitten's gaze is bold; by contrast hers is heavy-eyed and somewhat seductive. She is plainly garbed in a housecap and dress.

The impression reduces Philip Mercier's painting, Girl with a Cat. The painting is reproduced in Postle, p. 33, and discussed p. 68.

13.1 x 11 cm.
Yale Center for British Art (B1970.3.1103)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Yale Center for British Art, Yale University

NIGHT. Boy Blowing Charcoal

Godfy Schalken Pinxt Richd Purcell Fecit

London. Printed for Robt Sayer, at the Golden Buck, near Serjeants Inn Fleet Street

A boy facing left blows the coals on a piece of charcoal to light the candle in the holder in his right hand. A full moon shines partially obscured by a cloud in the upper right corner.

Published: Postle, p. 66.

31.2 x 25 cm.
Yale Center for British Art (B1970.3.1115)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Yale Center for British Art, Yale University

The Philosopher of Bacchus

VanHarep pinxt C. Corbett fecit.

A man stands with one hand, holding a clay pipe, on his hip and gazes left, inspecting a tall glass of wine that he holds up as if to the light.

31x 25 cm.
Yale Center for British Art (B1970.3.1112)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University

Playing at Putt

Ostrade pinxt C. Corbutt fecit

Printed for Robt. Sayer, No. 53 Fleet Street

Three men sit at a card table. An older man (r.) looks out, holding his cards in his right hand. With his left he has apparently just played the two of clubs. The younger man (l.) in profile looks dismayed as he prepares to play the three of diamonds.

The Game of Put, inscribed "Printed for Bowles & Carver, St Pauls Church Yard, London" and numbered 246 reverses the image.

13.6 x 11.2 cm.
Lewis Walpole Library (764.0.24)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Yale Center for British Art, Yale University

Rural Life, Plate II

P. Mercier pinxt C. Corbutt fecit

Printed for Robt Sayer at No. 53 Fleet Street

A rural miss in a ribboned hat, low cut dress, and apron gazes boldly out. With one hand she draws a strand of yarn that she twists from a spindle with the fingers of her other hand.

13.3 x 11.2 cm.
Yale Center for British Art (B1970.3.1104)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, New York Public Library

SUSANNA AND THE TWO ELDERS

Vien pinxt C. Corbutt fecit

London. Printed for Robt. Sayer, Map and Printseller, at No. 53 Fleet Street

Seated at a fountain, naked but for a cloth that loops around her back and between her thighs, Suzanna struggles to fend off the assault of the two bearded elders who accost her, one from each side. The mezzotint is in the style of a classical genre painting and may mark a boundary between droll and scriptural subjects. In Sayer's 1775 catalogue in fact, the image is listed among the "Scripture Pieces," yet the subject's sensuality, as well as its exploitation of satiric tropes like youth/age and an implicit anti-clerical vein, may have assured its crossover into the droll market.

23.2 x 35.3 cm.
New York Public Library (Satyr p.189)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Yale Center for British Art, Yale University

UNTITLED [Girl with Candle]

Morland pinxt Purcell fecit

A pretty young woman holds a candlestick in one hand and shields the flame with the other. She looks right, intent on the flame.

The YCBA impression is untitled with Girl with Candle printed on its matte. The attributions to Morland and Purcell are handwritten beneath the image.

31 x 25 cm.
Yale Center for British Art (B1970.3.1114)

UNTITLED [Two men smoking]

Brewer pinxt C. Corbut fecit

Printed for Robert Sayer, No. 53 in Fleet Street

Two men sit in a tavern smoking clay pipes. The one (l.) in the foreground wears a jerkin and flat cap and looks out. In his right hand, drapped over the back of the chair, he dangles a tankard. The man (r.) who wears a felt hat sits further back and appears lost in thought as he smokes his pipe and looks down at the table. The original would be by Adriaen Brouwer (Dutch, 17th c.), many of whose images record the culture and effects of the fashionable new intoxicant, tobacco.

14.3 x 12.3 cm.
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (1952-159)

The Young Grenadier

P. Mercier Pinxt. Chas. Corbutt fecit.

London. Printed for Robt. Sayer, Map & Printseller at No. 53 Fleet Street

A boy, about ten years old, poses in the uniform of a grenadier, complete with regimental helmet and a toy musket. A grove of trees forms the background left with a country house in the distance right.

33 x 25 cm.
Huntington Library (283000, 36 #58)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University

WINTER

P. Mercier inv. et pinxt. Mercier fecit

London, Printed for Henry Parker, opposite Birchin Lane in Cornhill. Publish'd according to Act of Parliament October 1st 1762

An aged man (r.)in a fur trimmed robe and fur hat warms his hands by the fire. His daughter (l.) bends over the hearth, fanning the coals with a bellows, while his son (c.) stands by with a bowl of broth. The verse describes the scene:

In Life's last Scene the hoary Man of Years,
Emblem of Winter, wrapt in Fur appears, //
His Son and Daughter cheer their aged Sire;
That brings the Broth, & this blows the Fire.

33x 25 cm.
Lewis Walpole Library (title, engraver and printer's inscription, no date, 762.10.1.1)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Library of Congress

The Queen's Arms, a Night's Amusement

Maucourt Invt et Fecit

Publish'd according to Act of Parliament Augst 13, 1764

This large droll is an early version of Night Amusement (BMC 4506) catalogued by Stephens to Bowles and Carver but surviving also as a Carington Bowles print at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Neither is dated. Besides the date, this impression at the Library of Congress is also useful for locating the revelry at the Queen's Arms Tavern in St. Paul's Churchyard.

42 x 31.3 cm.
Library of Congress (PC3+1764), Art Gallery of Ottawa (colour) A Print entitled Night Amusement but here inscribed "Printed for G. Gapper in New Bond Street" is held by the Lewis Walpole Library with the hand-written date 1767 (770.0.17).

Untitled [Smiling Face]

The Huntington Library includes a caricature of a smiling face with dimple and the pronounced eyes that reverses the man central in The Queen's Arms, a Night's Amusement. Here the figure wears a heavy overcoat and stands with arms crossed, leering out of an oval frame.

Huntington Library (283000, 36 #67)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University

QUACK DOCTOR

R. Purcell fecit 1766

The bearded doctor in a fur trimmed cap sits on a bench at a low table littered with books, hourglass, pen, and inkpot. He holds an open book in his left hand and turns away from the table to check the beaker he holds in his right hand. An woman stands (r.) behind the table and to the left one assistant, standing, watches another, seated, grinding with a mortar and pestle.

24.2 x 34.9 cm.
Lewis Walpole Library (776.0.18)