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‘The Last Drop’, 1806

© 2021 Royal Pharmaceutical Society

Description

Mounted hand coloured etching, entitled ‘THE LAST DROP.’, designed, etched and published by Thomas Rowlandson in 1806.

This is a satire on the medicinal virtues of punch; viewed at the time as a simple form of self-medication. In it a short and fat man, raises a punch bowl to his lips oblivious to the bowl’s supporter; death personified as a jubilant skeleton, who stands behind his victim about to plunge a spear into his head.

On the table are a foaming tankard of ale, lemons, a decanter of port, and on the floor a row of casks, empty bottles, a corkscrew and a flagon of “Usquebaugh”, the water of life.