A TOUR TO FOREIGN PARTS.

Date1778

Engraver James Bretherton fl. 1750 - 1799

After work by Henry William Bunbury 1750 - 1811

OriginEngland, London

MediumEtching and line engraving on laid paper with hand coloring

DimensionsOverall: 19 × 24in. (48.3 × 61cm)
Other (Plate): 16 3/4 × 21in. (42.5 × 53.3cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1971-468

DescriptionThe lower margin reads: "A TOUR TO FOREIGN PARTS./ M.r Bunbury del./ J.s Bretherton f./ Publish'd 11.th March, 1778."Label TextA street is shown and a young English gentleman of grotesque features, dressed in the extreme mode of the time, is standing staring and grinning at a French hotel-keeper who holds out a bill of fare, and welcomes the lad to an inn named "Poste Royale." The hotel-keeper wears enormous sabots on his feet. One of his helpers stands to his side taking one leg out of a huge boot. The other presumably will follow. The Englishman holds a cane in one hand and a volume of "Chesterfield Letters" in the other. Behind him stands the person who has accompanied him to this spot, possibly a tutor. Behind the companion is a servent with a load of books and a driver urging on horses and a coach. Out of the window of the inn, a cook is chasing away three cats with long tails. She has a carving knife in hand. To the rear of the group, another cook is preparing to butcher a cock.ProvenanceBefore 1971, the Old Print Shop (New York, NY); 1971-present, purchased by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA).