The Wasp — 1896 — page 805: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon satirizes artistic pretension and financial struggle. A well-dressed man (labeled "Dauberer," apparently an artist) sits at a desk showing papers to a stern landlady (Mrs. Beanes). He brags about selling a "splendid oil painting" to a wealthy collector (Gotrox), expecting congratulations. The landlady's response deflates him: she calls the painting's subject "a miserable old skinflint" who deserves his fate—suggesting the artwork depicts someone disreputable, or that she simply doesn't care about artistic achievement. The joke: landlords care about rent payment, not artistic merit. A struggling artist's accomplishments mean nothing to those owed money. The page is primarily filled with period advertisements below the cartoon.