Items
Linked e-resources
Linked Resource
Digital image(s) of Folger Shakespeare Library FPa16
Details
Title
Autolycus selling his wares [graphic] / John Cawse.
Created/published
ca. 1830.
Description
1 painting on canvas : oil ; 63.8 x 77 cm
Associated name
Cawse, John, 1779-1862, artist.
Material base
canvas
Summary
Traditionally, this scene is set out of doors on a green in front of the shepherd's cottage, a pastoral landscape suitable for dancing. Cawse, however, sets his figures within the cottage, where the roguish peddler Autolycus has been invited in during a celebration so that the company might examine his wares. Standing at the left with a patch on lhis cloak, he selects a ballad from his overflowing box. In the center stand the two shepherdesses Dorcas and Mopsa. Mopsa, holding a blue ribbon, turns to her suitor, the clown who had promised to buy her a present. The clown, dressed in a striking costume of red black, appears less of a simpleton than is customary. The spears and buckler with the long center spike are familiar props in Cawse's paintings, and the spiral staircase at the right appears more decorative than functional. In what is very much a staged performance, the posing of the figures is somewhat stilted, Cawse offering another reincarnation of a simpler, more idyllic time. the figure style has changed from his earlier paintings, as he now relies more on bright colors and broader modeling.
Note
Signed beneath railing of stairway at the far right in black paint: "[Ca]wse".
Title from Pressly.
Title from Pressly.
Source of acquisition
Provenance: Edwin Parsons, Fine Art Dealer and Publisher, 5 Amersham Rd., Putney, London SW15 [1927], May 1930, £44.
Cited/described in
Pressly, W.L. Paintings in the Folger Shakespeare Library, 13
Linked resources
Digital image(s) of Folger Shakespeare Library FPa16
Genre/form
Paintings.
Place of creation/publication
Great Britain -- England.
Item Details
Call number
FPa16 (3rd floor hallway)
Folger-specific note
This record contains unverified data from a re-keying contract and may contain incorrect or incomplete text. Please consult Curator for assistance.
Folger accession
cs2061