Bathing Machines (An Excursion to Brighthelmstone)

Thomas Rowlandson

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

One of a set of eight aquatints devoted to a journey from London to Brighthelmstone (Brighton), together with attractions of the seaside resort, this print represents figures descending wooden stairs down a steep cliff, to reach a windy beach and horse-drawn bathing machines. The related text tells us that, "The bathing machines are under the care of the attentive Smoaker. The number of beautiful women who every morning court the embraces of the watery god, far exceeds that of any other bathing place in the kingdom."

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art