Wife & no wife, or, A trip to the Continent

lwlpr33259 (1024x824)

“The interior of a large church or cathedral. Burke, dressed as a Jesuit, standing within a low, semicircular wall at the foot of a crucifix, marries the Prince of Wales and Mrs. Fitzherbert. The Prince is about to put the ring on her finger. Fox gives her away, holding her left wrist. Beside him (right) stands Weltje in back view but looking to the left at the ceremony. A napkin is under his left arm, bottles project from his coat-pockets, and the tags on his shoulder denote the liveried manservant. To the left of Fox appears the profile of George Hanger. On the left North sits, leaning against the altar wall, sound asleep, his legs outstretched. He wears his ribbon but is dressed as a coachman, his hat and whip beside him. All the men wear top-boots to suggest a runaway match. Behind the Prince in a choir seat is a row of kneeling monks who are chanting the marriage service. The crucifix is partly covered by a curtain, but the legs and feet are painfully distorted … On the wall and pillars of the church are four framed pictures: ‘David watching Bathsheba bathing’, ‘St. Anthony tempted by monsters’, ‘Eve tempting Adam with the apple’, and ‘Judas kissing Christ’, the last being over the head of Fox.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • PrintmakerGillray, James, 1756-1815, printmaker.
  • TitleWife & no wife, or, A trip to the Continent [graphic] / design’d by Carlo Khan.
  • PublicationLondon : Publish’d by Willm. Holland, No. 66 Drury Lane, London, March 27, 1786.

Catalog Record & Digital Collection

786.03.27.01.2++

Acquired October 2015

The sleepy congregation

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A view of the interior of a church where the congregation (right) sleeps as the clergyman in his pulpit reads from the gospel; he uses a magnifying glass to read the text; an hour glass extends from the side of the pulpit. Below the clergyman sits the clerk who holds his eyeglasses in his hand and eyes the exposed bosom of a young woman asleep on the left rather than the volume before him. The young woman’s holds in her hands a fan and book open to the word “matrimony”. Above the stained-glass windows a cupid hovers with his bow.

  • Title: The sleepy congregation [graphic] = La congregation tout endormi / W. Hogarth pinxt. et sculpt.
  • Created: [Paris?] : [s.n.], [1790s?]

Catalog Record & Digital Collection

Hogarth 790.00.00.02

Acquired April 2013