Shooting: Verse 3 1819

This print, titled "Shooting: Verse 3", was made by Thomas Sutherland in England at an unknown date. This aquatint is seemingly innocuous, depicting a common rural pastime, but it speaks volumes about the social hierarchy of the time. Hunting in the English countryside was a preserve of the landed gentry. The clothing of the hunters, their guns, and the presence of trained dogs, all signal wealth and status. The image creates a sense of the vast, open land controlled by this elite class and the local institutions, the church in the background for instance, that held up the class structure. The verse underneath the image is reminiscent of hunting ballads popular at the time. Understanding this image means delving into the socio-economic history of rural England, examining land ownership, class structure, and the cultural practices that reinforced social norms. Prints such as these, distributed widely, played a role in both celebrating and perpetuating the status quo.