Dropsy Courting Consumption October 25, 1810 Thomas Rowlandson British Rowlandson here contrasts fatness and thinness to weave a broad social parody. Two courting couples, embodying four extremes of age and body type, demonstrate the maxim that opposites attract. In the foreground a short obese man has fallen to his knees to declare his devotion to a tall, ematicated woman. The title hints that the two also suffer from opposing ailments, since consumption (tuberculosis) is a wasting disease and dropsy (edema) causes swelling. In the garden behind, the equation is reversed, with an elderly thin
Dropsy Courting Consumption October 25, 1810 Thomas Rowlandson British Rowlandson here contrasts fatness and thinness to weave a broad social parody. Two courting couples, embodying four extremes of age and body type, demonstrate the maxim that opposites attract. In the foreground a short obese man has fallen to his knees to declare his devotion to a tall, ematicated woman. The title hints that the two also suffer from opposing ailments, since consumption (tuberculosis) is a wasting disease and dropsy (edema) causes swelling. In the garden behind, the equation is reversed, with an elderly thin man in an old-fashioned suit escorting a plump young girl. The foreground mausoleum, with its heavy rotunda surrounded by slender columns, contributes to the visual game. Finally, a distant statue of Hercules on a pedestal represents the classical ideal that all those present spectacularly fail to Dropsy Courting Consumption 398458
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