A scene in a fashionable library with ladies and gentlemen conversing with attendants at the counters on either side. On the left a woman looks in a book while her male companion converses with a clergyman, as the woman behind the counter consults a book. On the right, a man sits in a chair as a lady discusses her choices with the man behind the counter who reaches for a book below a sign ‘Stamp’. Behind him is another sign “Just published […]” An older woman with a walking stick approaches the counter on the right, followed by a Black servant and a dog. The windows are filled with books and prints. Through the open door a woman with an umbrella is silhouetted; to the left another sign “History Westminster and its monuments.”
- Printmaker: Rowlandson, Thomas, 1756-1827, printmaker.
- Title: The library [graphic] / J. Green delt.
- Publication: [London] : [R. Ackermann], [1813]
813.00.00.24
Acquired November 2020
An allegorical print with two tableaux illustrating on the right, the end of a righteous life and on the left the end of the life of a man who made wealth his object of faith. The religious man in bed surrounded by books and against the background of an attractive library, is greeted by the winged figure of Time clutching a scythe and an hourglass. In contrast, the greedy man, his gouty leg wrapped in bandages and resting on a stool, recoils against the figure of a spear-wielding skeleton, upsetting his table.