Conjugal affection

description below

“A wealthy middle class family gathered in a room, the father standing in the centre, leaning on the back of a chair which his youngest child stands upon, embracing him, a son standing beside pointing to an open book and the mother sitting at left, gazing to right while another daughter beside plays with a kitten, a bird in a cage on table beside; at right an older son looks out anxiously at the ships on river beyond, his coat over his arm..”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Thew, Robert, 1758-1802, printmaker.
  • Title: Conjugal affection [graphic] : from the original picture presented to the city by Aldn. Boydell / painted by Robt. Smirke R.A. ; engraved by Robt. Thew, Hist. Engraver to H.R.H the Prince of Wales.
  • Publication: [London] : Pub. Sept. 29, 1799, by J. & J. Boydell, No. 90 Cheapside, and at the Shakspeare Gallery, Pall Mall, London, [29 September 1799]

Catalog Record

799.09.29.01++

Acquired April 2023

The lovely Sacarissa dressing for the Pantheon

description below

“A stout, ugly, and elderly woman holds in her left hand a barber’s block, with a carved head in profile, on which is an elaborate pyramidal wig with ringlets. This she is covering with powder or flour from a dredger. Her hair is short and scanty; on her head is a very large black patch, two smaller ones are on her temple. She is dressed in undergarments, showing stays, and frilled petticoat over which is worn a pocket. Her dress, the bodice of which is almost cylindrical from its stiffening whalebone, is on a stool behind her. Her back is turned to the casement window (right) through which look two grinning old women, wearing frilled muslin caps. Over the window, and over the wall on its left, is a heavily festooned curtain. Sacarissa stands facing a low rectangular table (left), on which are a bottle and wine-glass, a candle (?) in a triangular shade, which is falling over, having apparently been knocked by the wig, patches, a comb, a paper, &c. Behind on the wall, in deep shadow, is a picture of a dome inscribed “The Pantheon”.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Dawe, Philip, printmaker.
  • Title: The lovely Sacarissa dressing for the Pantheon [graphic].
  • Publication: [London] : [publisher not identified], publish’d Feby. 24, 1772.

Catalog Record

772.02.24.02+

Acquired April 2023

The fruits of early industry & oeconemy

description below

“A family in a wealthy interior; an elderly man at centre, seated at a table, a glass in his left hand, holding out his right to receive coins from a younger man standing to left with his right hand on a book and a quill in his mouth; on the table, another glass, writing materials, coins and notes; to right, a woman …, supporting, and holding up a bunch of grapes for, a young child standing on a chair; looking on from behind the chair, a boy and, at right, a black servant holding a bowl of fruit, his left hand on the chair; in front of the table, a young girl lying on the carpet with a spaniel; a shipping wharf seen through an open window to left.”–British Museum online catalogue, description of another print engraved after the same painting

  • Printmaker: Darcis, Louis, -1801, printmaker.
  • Title: The fruits of early industry & oeconemy [sic] [graphic] / G. Morland pinxt. ; Darcis sculpt.
  • Publication: London : [publisher not identified], publishd. March 25, 1800.

Catalog Record

Drawer 800.03.25.07

Acquired April 2023

The Westminster ceceder

description below

“Fox stoops to support on his back Horne Tooke, who is about to climb into the window of ‘St Stephe[n’s] Chap[el]’, the name on a slab over the door, partly cut off by the right margin. The door is being closed by Lord Temple, who says: “He shall not pollute this holy Temple”. Tooke rests his right foot on Fox’s back, his hands grasping the sill; his left toe is in a cranny in the wall above a placard headed: ‘Old Sarum Dilly takes only one at the Brazenface’. He looks down at Fox, saying, “don’t give way I am not quite in Yet”. Fox, his head towards the door, one foot supported on a book: ‘Powerfull Reasons for Non attendance’, says: “Come on with you!! and mind and button your great Coat to hide the Old Cassock.” Tooke’s greatcoat hangs open, showing his coat, and the skirt of a short cassock over knee-breeches. On the wall beside him is a torn placard: ‘A New Edition The Diversions of Purley by the Rev John H…’ The keystone of the arch over the door, on the extreme right, is a satyr’s head, leering at Tooke with protruding tongue.”–British Museum online catalogue.

 

  • Printmaker: Williams, Charles, active 1797-1830, printmaker.
  • Title: The Westminster ceceder [sic] on fresh duty [graphic].
  • Publication: [London] : Pub’d. March 14, 1801 by S.W. Fores, 50 Piccadilly, [14 March 1801]

Catalog Record

801.03.14.02+

Acquired November 2020

Dido in despair

Dido in despair. Detailed description below

“A parody of British Museum Satires No. 9752, Gillray’s ‘Dido in Despair!’ The Queen takes the place of Lady Hamilton, in a similar pose but tearing her long black hair with more of rage and less of grief. She wears a bracelet on each arm, one inscribed ‘BB’ (for Bergami), the other ‘MW’ (for Wood). On the floor are gifts to the Queen. Her bare right foot rests on a large cake inscribed ‘MW’ on which are various emblems: a large crown, which she kicks over, busts of Wood, Bergami, Lieut. Hownam, and an unidentified person; also a goat, an ass, and a cat. This stands on a paper: ‘Mr Trifle’s Love to the Q[ueen]’. A huge round of beef is ticketed ‘With Mr Suets Love to the Q–n’; with this is a roll of ‘Cat’s Meat’. A model of a pair of stays enclosed in a glass case stands on two papers: ‘Glass-blower’s Delight’ and ‘O stay my love my Cary dear’. A pair of breeches of metal is ‘For Bat [Bergami] or Cat ad libitum from the Brazier[s]’. Caricatures lie near a pair of slippers inscribed ‘BB’; the uppermost is of Bergami drinking at a table between Wood and the Queen. A book is ‘Catalogue of Fancy Men’. The glass on the dressing-table is topped by a crescent; on it hang miniatures of Bergami and Wood (cf. No. 13858). The table is covered with decanters, one labelled ‘Brandy’ [see British Museum Satires No. 14175], glass, pill-box, and boxes of ‘Rouge’, ‘Brick dust’, and ‘Court Plaister’. The curtains of the bed are fringed with gold and hang from a pelmet. In place of Gillray’s open sash-window is a closed French window; outside is a landscape, with two asses, and a lake (Como) with a sailing-boat.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Lane, Theodore, 1800-1828, printmaker.
  • Title: Dido in despair [graphic].
  • Publication: London : Pubd. by G. Humphrey, 27 St. James’s St., April 3rd, 1821.

Catalog Record 

821.04.03.01

Acquired March 2019