Can you help me identify this 18th (?) century drawing of an insane asylum?

March 28, 2010 1:32 PM

I'm trying to identify this drawing of an insane asylum, which opens a surgical film that I'm writing about. I felt sure it was Hogarth, but it doesn't seem to match any of his works. I'm sorry it's so blurry!
posted by miriam to Media & Arts (4 answers total)

The tophat would seem to rule out Hogarth, though the poses so similar to the end of Rake's Progress I guess it's an, uh, homage. Going by the clothes its 1830s/40s?
posted by Erasmouse at 2:07 PM on March 28, 2010

Best answer: According to this page it's 'Patients in the garden of an asylum,' engraving by K. H. Merz (c.1834). Clearer image here.
posted by misteraitch at 2:11 PM on March 28, 2010

Best answer: ...which seems to have been based on a drawing by Wilhelm von Kaulbach entitled Das Narrenhaus.
posted by misteraitch at 2:39 PM on March 28, 2010

Response by poster: You're a lifesaver, misteraitch! Thank you so much.
posted by miriam at 3:47 PM on March 28, 2010