"A lean and ugly old man sits in profile to the right, bending forward towards an immense volume which lies open on a table in front of an open sash-window (right). On the page is a fly at which he gesticulates. He wears a night-cap and a loose robe over an old-fashioned laced waistcoat, short breeches, and high-quartered shoes. Above his head hangs a large stuffed crocodile, and in a frame on the wall are butterflies and insects. The 'virtuoso' (? naturalist) is examining the works of Linnaeus 'for a description of an uncommon species of insect'."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched above image., Numbered 'Plate 41' in upper left corner., Plate from: Eccentric Excursions, or, Literary & Pictorial Sketches of Countenance Character & Country in ... England & South Wales, by G.M. Woodward, 1796., Variant state with title. Cf. No. 8968 in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires, v. 7, and Temporary local subject terms: Virtuosi -- Allusion to Linnaeus -- Collections: insects -- Taxodermy: crocodile -- Male dress: dressing gown -- Male dress: nightcap -- Eyeglasses.