The quack crossing a river

Matthew Michell, to whom this drawing belonged was a banker and Rowlandson's companion on his tour of the Low Countries. Hayes describes Michell as a portly bon viveur with an apparently insatiable appetite for Rowlandson's drawings, he was also one of the artist's closest friends from the 1790s to 1819, (op.cit. p. 20), who came to replace Wigstead in his affections after the latter's death in 1800. Michell divided his time between his houses in the Strand, at Enfield, north London and his country estate, Hengar in Cornwall. He was rich and enormously hospitable and Rowlandson was a frequent visitor at all three houses.