CHARLES on his Death-bed, making his Will, for the future Security of his Family.

Date1787

Publisher Carington Bowles 1724 - 1793

MediumLine engraving and etching on laid paper

DimensionsOverall: 9 3/4 × 15 5/8 in (24.76 × 39.69cm)
Other (Platemark): 6 3/4 × 10 3/4 in (17.14 × 27.3cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1959-83,11

DescriptionThe lower margin reads: "CHARLES on his Death-bed, making his Will, for the future Security of his Family./ Printed for & Sold by Carington Bowles,/ N.o 69 St. Paul's Church Yard, London./ Published as the Act directs, 31 August, 1787."Label TextThe eleventh of twelve prints representing the "Contrast between Virtue and Vice exhibited in the Characters of Two Brothers." This print is a continuation of the moral narrative that chronicles the fates of two brothers named Charles and Frederick, who travel down different paths after receiving their inheritance. What follows is a cautionary tale about virtue and vice, a popular topic of prints like William Hogarth's "Modern Moral Conversations" or those depicting the parable of the Prodigal Son.

Charles lies in his deathbed, preparing his will "for the furture Security of his Family." His wife sits at a table with medicine bottles and bowls as she sobs into a handkerchief while two young girls stand at her knees. Charles dictates terms of his will to a man who is seated at another table. With the lawyer is another gentleman, perhaps a witness. The table they work at contains all writing equipment. The room is furnished with a large chest, a bracket clock and mirror, and is carpeted.ProvenanceBefore 1959, the Old Print Shop (New York, NY); 1959-present, purchased by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA).