 |
| Carrington Bowles Wantonness Mask'd 1771 hand-colored mezzotint British Museum |
Carrington Bowles (1724-1793) inherited a family publishing business and ran it successfully enough all his life to be able to pass it on to his own son, who later became a successful politician. The firm specialized in maps. The production of popular prints drawn from actual everyday life became lucrative in England toward the end of the 18th century, and Bowles participated in the boom. For these mezzotints he probably recruited many of the same craftspeople already employed by the firm in designing, drafting, printing, and hand-coloring maps. The names of such subordinate artists are mostly unknown. The series sampled here exploits the figure of the contemporary urban prostitute both as fashion-plate and as sexual titillation.
 |
| Carrington Bowles The Light Guinea, or, the Blade in the Dumps 1773-74 hand-colored mezzotint British Museum |
 |
| Carrington Bowles The Last Shift 1792-93 hand-colored mezzotint British Museum |
 |
| Carrington Bowles A St Giles's Beauty 1784 hand-colored mezzotint British Museum |
 |
| Carrington Bowles A St James's Beauty 1784 hand-colored mezzotint British Museum |
 |
| Carrington Bowles The Bargain Struck, or, Virtue Conquer'd by Temptation 1773 hand-colored mezzotint British Museum |
 |
| Carrington Bowles A Bagnigge Wells Scene, or, No Resisting Temptation 1776 hand-colored mezzotint British Museum |
 |
| Carrington Bowles A Nettle between Two Roses 1790 hand-colored mezzotint British Museum |
 |
| Carrington Bowles Two Privateers Attacking a Man of War 1782-84 hand-colored mezzotint British Museum |
 |
| Carrington Bowles An Evening's Invitation, with a Wink from the Bagnio 1773 hand-colored mezzotint British Museum |
 |
| Carrington Bowles A Decoy for the Old as well as the Young 1773 hand-colored mezzotint British Museum |
 |
| Carrington Bowles A Foolish Woman (for she sitteth at the door of her house ...) 1780 hand-colored mezzotint British Museum |
 |
| Carrington Bowles The Stay-maker taking a Pleasing Circumference 1784 hand-colored mezzotint British Museum |
 |
| Carrington Bowles Ho! Ho! These late hours will soon destroy me! 1770-72 hand-colored mezzotint British Museum |
I am grateful to the British Museum for making these images available.