Youth Diverting Age

London, 1794. Colour-Printed mezzotint. Title space has rocker work on it. In good condition with the exception of being trimmed on the plate mark on the lower margin. Laid onto supportive backing sheet. Surface soiling in margins. Image size: 18 x 13 9/16 inches. A richly-coloured, sharp impression of Morland's pleasant image of very old and very young people.

George Morland was one of the most successful genre painters of his time, creating, during his industrious career, some of England's most cherished paintings. At an early age Morland displayed his artistic genius, he learned to paint at three and exhibited his first work at the Royal Academy at the mere age of ten. He was a prodigious painter, producing more than 4000 paintings during the entirety of his career, and sometimes painting two or three works in a day. His beautiful idealistic scenes were a favorite source of inspiration for contemporary engravers, and as many as 250 separate engravings were done of his paintings during his lifetime. His brother-in-law, William Ward, engraved a great number of his paintings reproducing in print his endearing paintings of English country life. Ward's engravings after Morland are some of the most beautiful prints of the period; they combine fine technical skill and inspired artistic imagination to create enduring images that speak of the taste and beauty of the age. Here Morland manages to suggest the distance between old age and childhood, making at the same time a cozy group. The staid old man smiles reflectively toward his grandson, who is looking at his sister harrass the dog with her little blow toy, while the other sister tries on a mask and funny hat.

Dawe, G. Morland p. 157.