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Back view of a man urinating [Bray album]

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Date

ca.1774

Description

No. 11 of 74. This familiar vignette of ordinary life in an age entirely lacking 'public conveniences' is an example of Bray's acute eye as a social observer. It may have been done in London in October 1774 while on his way to Portsmouth.It is one of 73 drawings by Bray (plus one signed 'NF 1782') preserved in a 19th-century album. They have now been separately remounted. Bray (1750-1823), was second lieutenant of the 44-gun ‘Pallas’ under Captain the Hon. William Cornwallis (1744-1819) – later a well-known admiral - on two voyages (1774-77) to report on British interests in West Africa, including the slave trade. The dated drawings refer only to the first of these, from December 1774 to September 1775, though a few may be from the second. Others comprise country views, some of Deal, Kent (where Bray may have come from), and others of social-history interest.

Image Licence

CC BY-NC-ND

Image Credit

Location

London, England

Country

England

Medium

Watercolour