William WARD after William Bigg

THE TRUANTS

THE ROMPS

A pair of black and white mezzotint engravings by William Ward after the painting by William Bigg, published in London in 1796.

The first plate depicts a pair of naughty boys who have been caught scrumping apples and are being chastised by their gout-ridden father. A steward reveals the evidence while two younger brothers look on at a safe distance. In the second plate a distraught mother interrupts a group of girls who have carelessly overturned a table spilling ink all over their dresses.

William Ward was born in London in 1766. He was the brother of James Ward and married the sister of the famous English landscape painter, George Morland. As such he spent most of his life surrounded by artists and engravers. He was apprenticed to John Raphael Smith and on completion of his time became the latter's assistant. He engraved portraits, genre, decorative and sporting subjects after both his contemporaries and his own designs. He is particularly well known for his engravings after the work of his brother-in-law, George Morland. He was appointed mezzotint engraver to the Duke of York in 1803 and later to the Prince of Wales. In 1814 he was elected Associate of the Royal Academy. Ward died suddenly in December 1826.