Smuggling Out, or Starting for Gretna Green 1798

"Smuggling Out, or Starting for Gretna Green" is a hand-colored etching by Heinrich Joseph Schütz, created in 1798. It depicts a humorous scene of a young woman escaping from a boarding house with her lover, a man in military uniform. The woman is being helped down from a window, while a man in the background loads luggage onto a cart, suggesting a hasty elopement. The title refers to Gretna Green, a town on the Scottish border where elopements were popular. This work is a satirical commentary on the social conventions of the time, poking fun at the practice of eloping to escape societal norms. The piece is a classic example of British social commentary and humor, reflecting the prevailing cultural anxieties and attitudes of the late 18th century.