2-871-260 - Shirley Markham Collection/Heritage Images

The Rivals, c1780-1825. 'These two young men, one a dashing young officer, the other a gallant but unattractive adventurer, are displaying their simulated affections to the complacent rich dowager, who is unattractive, over-dressed, and decidedly approaching the half-century mark. Both are probably heavily in debt and have the old lady's fortune in mind for gaming or some other diversion'. From "The Watercolour Drawings of Thomas Rowlandson from the Albert H. Wiggin Collection in the Boston Public Library" with commentary by Arthur W. Heintzelman. [Watson-Guptill Publications, Inc., New York, 1947]