Coloured drawing by Thomas Rowlandson, 1775, showing two grave robbers at work while Death, as a nightwatchman holding a lantern, grabs one of them from behind.
Featured on PDR in the essay Sicko Doctors: Suffering and Sadism in 19th-Century America
American fiction of the 19th century often featured a ghoulish figure, the cruel doctor, whose unfeeling fascination with bodily suffering readers found both unnerving and entirely plausible. Looking at novels by Louisa May Alcott, James Fenimore Cooper, and Herman Melville, Chelsea Davis dissects this curious character.
Also appearing in the essay…
Other works by the artist in the archive…
Grave Robbers with Death
Artist
Date
1775
