Directions to footmen

The subject of the present watercolour is taken from Jonathan Swift's Directions to Servants, a satirical essay, offering absurd advice to servants. It was unfinished on Swift's death and published posthumously in 1745 and must have provided much inspiration to Rowlandson. The subject was engraved in 1807 and published with the following lines: 'Take off the largest dishes and set them on with one hand to show the ladies your vigour and strength of back, but always do it between/ two ladies, that if the dish happens to slip, the soup or sauce may fall on their clothes, and not daub the floor. By this practice, two of our brethren, my worthy friends, got considerable fortunes.../When you carry up a dish of meat, dip your fingers in the sauce, or lick it with your tongue to try whether it be good and fit for your masters table - '.

A more fully worked up version of this watercolour filled with incidental detail is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. In the present version, Rowlandson has reduced unnecessary details completely, simplified the background and reduced the palette, in order to fully explore the interplay and relationship of the figures. The simplification of subject and palette further serves to refine and sophisticate the subject and emphasise the elegance of the artist's use of a sinuous rococo line.

In the Boston watercolour and the resultant print, the tray in the footman's right hand contains a joint of meat covered in gravy, which is sliding off onto a dog's back. Here it is replaced with a tray of toppling glasses, to alleviate the need for extraneous detail and to concentrate the spectator's eye.