Dance of Death, the Empress - Hand-Colored Etching by Cruikshank, 1808

Original hand-colored etching from the series The Dance of Death, engraved by Isaac Cruikshank in 1808 after drawings by the caricaturist George Moutard Woodward. Two scenes in a strip with the dialogue engraved above each: Death claims a courtier's coronet and carries off a lady who retorts "Fellow - I am an Empress!".

Woodward was one of the most popular English caricaturists of the turn of the century, and Isaac Cruikshank, father of George Cruikshank, one of his regular engravers. The series brings the old medieval danse macabre up to date as Georgian social satire.

Medium: Hand-colored etching.
Artist / after: George Moutard Woodward.
Engraver / lithographer: Isaac Cruikshank.
Date: 1808.
Dimensions: 10 x 5.3 in (25.5 x 13.5 cm).
Condition: Trimmed and laid down on period paper; paper toned, with tears and a paper loss in the upper right margin and a wrinkle in the upper left corner.