Skip to main content
Advanced Search
Direct scan of object
Recrues Angloia partant pour l'Amerique (English Recruits going to America)
Direct scan of object

Recrues Angloia partant pour l'Amerique (English Recruits going to America)

Date1780
Attributed to
OriginEurope, France
MediumBlack and white line engraving with etching and period hand color
DimensionsOH: 12 7/8" x OW: 18"; Plate H: 10 1/8" x W: 13 1/4"
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1960-70
DescriptionThe lower margin reads: "Recrues Angloia partant pour l'Amerique/ Angliche Recruts going to to America"
Three motley conscripts have been lined up for inspection in a tavern yard under a sign of a wounded soldier. The inscription "Retour de l'Amerique, Pauvre Fortune" (Back from America, bad luck) on the sign presents a very pessimistic picture of what they can expect. Undisturbed by the affair, a young woman is resting against the side of the building mending breeches, presumably for one of the tattered group.

ProvenanceBefore 1960, H. Dunscombe Colt [1901-1973] (New York, NY); before 1960, purchased by the Old Print Shop (New York, NY); 1960-present, purchased by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA).