‘The Last Gasp, or Toadstools Mistaken for Mushrooms’, 1813

Description

Mounted hand coloured etching, entitled ‘THE LAST GASP. OR TOADSTOOLS MISTAKEN FOR MUSHROOMS,’ designed and etched by Thomas Rowlandson, and published by Thomas Tegg in 1813.

This caricature is a satire on the methods doctors use to examine the health of their patients. The elderly old-fashioned doctor with gold-topped cane and spectacles peers at the tongue of a fat agonized patient sitting in a low armchair.

Beside the patient stands his ugly wife. While a scrawny footman, with hair standing on end, stands behind the doctor’s chair. Along with the patient, the wife and the footman also stick their tongues out.