Three elderly doctors and scholars standing as a group. Etching by F. Grose.

[Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], [1788]

1 print : etching ; platemark 12.9 x 9.3 cm

Antiquarian doctors in a brown study. F. Grose del. et sculp. A 'brown study" is defined by the Oxford English dictionary as "A state of mental abstraction or musing: 'gloomy meditations'" (the latter definition from Dr Johnson's dictionary); "said of one absent, or in a reverie, thoughtful" (F. Grose, A classical dictionary of the vulgar tongue, London 1785). Possibly here a pun on the name and persona of Sir William Browne

British Museum, Catalogue of political and personal satires, vol. vi, London 1938, no. 7462

Wellcome Collection 744080i