A crowd gathered around a mountebank who points to a banner illustrating various methods of execution; to the left stands a rat-catcher with a cage of dead rats. Mezzotint by R. Laurie, 1772, after A. van Ostade.

London (No. 53, Fleet Sayer [sic]) : Printed for Rob.t Sayer ... as the Act directs, 20 April 1772.

1 print : mezzotint ; platemark 50.5 x 35.5 cm

The Flemish ratt catcher. Ostade pinx.t ; Rob.t Lowerie fecit.

There is an etching by Dietrich of a similar composition (Wellcome Library catalogue no. 38321i), possibly after a painting by Ostade (Hofstede de Groot loc. cit.). The present mezzotint is in the same direction as Dietrich's etching (i.e. the protagonist points to the screen with his left hand)

C. Hofstede de Groot, A catalogue raisonné of the works of the most eminent Dutch painters, London, 1910, vol. 3, p. 269, Ostade no. 421b (possibly after that painting)

Wellcome Collection 38321i