"A naked, bald, and grotesquely obese man stands on the tips of his toes about to plunge, or rather topple, into a bath, in which he admires, Narcissus-like, his own absurd reflection. He is poised on a platform projecting over the bath; behind him stands a comely young woman, watching in astonishment. A flesh-brush is beside her, another is on a seat on the opposite side of the bath, where a print of Narcissus is on the wall. An ugly old woman's head looks through a small rectangular aperture up m the wail; she is much amused at the scene. On the wall is a placard: 'Glowcocks Bagnio Cold and Hot Baths Cupping Sweating and otherwise cleansing the body performed here Lodgings for Gentlemen.'"--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image. and Sheet trimmed with plate mark on top edge.
Publisher:
Pubd. April 6, 1803, by R. Ackermann, N. 101 Strand, London
Subject (Name):
Narcissus (Greek mythological character),
Subject (Topic):
Prostitution, Public baths, Obesity, Therapeutic baths, Bathing, Nudes, and Signs (Notices)
Title from item., Sheet trimmed withing plate mark., Two lines of verse below title: The buisiness of his church he did by proxy and loved al doxies but the orthodoxy., Printmaker from British Museum catalogue., Plate numbered '21' in lower left corner., and Temporary local subject terms: Parsons -- Young women -- Furniture: slipcovered love seat.
Publisher:
Pubd. Feby. 1st, 1806 by S.W. Fores, No. 50 Piccadilly
A fat parson sits on a settee with a young courtesan on each knee
Description:
Title etched below image., Sheet trimmed within plate mark on sides., Two lines of verse below title: The business of his church he did by proxy and loved all doxies but the ortho-doxy., Not in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires. Cf. For a later copy, see no. 10671, v. 8., and Watermark: T Edmonds 181[...].
"A short fat man (left) dressed as a military officer, clasps the inflated petticoats of a thin woman who walks away from him, looking over her left shoulder, her hand raised in a negative gesture. She is much taller than her admirer, and shows a hideous profile, her mouth wide open; her attitude is theatrical. She wears a high cap and the extended petticoats which had recently been fashionable (see BMSat 7099, &c). He looks up at her with a yearning smile. Both are grotesquely caricatured."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
"Turn fair Clora, turn, ah cruel, turn again."
Description:
Title etched above image., Printmaker from British Museum catalogue., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., Temporary local subject terms: Military uniforms: officer's uniform -- Trades: pastry cooks -- Vanhangen, Thomas, 'Captain Rolling-pin.', and Mounted to 38 x 28 cm.
Publisher:
Pubd. May 14th, 1792, by H. Humphrey, No. 18 Old Bond Street
"A portrait-painter painting a family group of a man and wife and their little boy. The group (right) is raised on a low semicircular platform, the couple sit on a high-backed settee without arms, the little boy on a stool in front of his mother. The child, though in his ordinary clothes, is holding a cupid's bow and a sheaf of arrows (reminiscent of the family portrait in the 'Vicar of Wakefield'); a large quiver holding arrows is slung across his shoulders, a wreath is on his head; he yawns violently. The man, in profile to the left, is obese and wears a short bushy wig, a dove sits on his left wrist; only the toes of his shoes reach the ground. His wife sits on his right holding a dove on her right hand; she turns towards her husband, looking straight forward with a fixed and painful smile; she wears ringlets and a cap of lace and ribbons on her high-dressed hair. The artist (left) stands at his easel which supports a large canvas and is placed close to his sitters. He wears spectacles, a bag-wig, and ruffled shirt, and holds a palette in his left hand. He looks towards his sitters with an insinuating smile, which, together with his attitude and the figure of the man sketched on the canvas, shows that he is intent on flattery. High up on the wall behind him are two oval bust portraits, one (left) of a clergyman, the other of a lady. Behind the sitters is a tall screen of several leaves."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title from caption below image., Printmaker and date of publication from Grego., Plate also published in: Caricatures / drawn & etched by those celebrated artists Gillray, Rowlandson, Cruikshanks, &c. [London?] : [publisher not identified], [1836?], p. 40., A later copy of no. 5921 in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires, v. 5, no. 10 of a series., Watermark: 1809., and Imperfect; artist's signature mostly erased from lower right corner of sheet.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Topic):
Artists, Artists' materials, Doves, Easels, Families, Group portraits, Obesity, Wigs, and Yawning
Mr. Harley, with a very large belly and a shirt with lace trim, standing full-length in profile to right wearing on his head a cuckold's horns from which hangs a sign "A room to lett unfurnish'd". From his mouth a bubble reading, "I am one of the heads of the city." In his left hand a book open to pages that read, "The city poll dedicated to the Cheese mongers, trunk makers, etc. From his right pocket a letter, "At the court of C.C., it was carried NEM-CON that he was realy & not politically ill."
Alternative Title:
Figure that appeared in a Mazarine gown
Description:
Title etched above image., Publication date in British Museum catalogue: October 10, 1768, the date of the masquerade., Plate from: The Oxford magazine or, Universal museum ... London : Printed for the authors, v. 1 (1768), p. 148., and Mounted to 30 x 36 cm.
Publisher:
Oxford Magazine
Subject (Geographic):
England and Great Britain.
Subject (Name):
Harley, Thomas, 1730-1804
Subject (Topic):
Clothing & dress, City council members, Horns (Anatomy), Masquerades, and Obesity
"Pushed by Knighton and pulled by Lady Conyngham, George IV, more corpulent than in other prints, walks in an ornate circular stand or support on castors (as used for toddling children, cf. British Museum satires no. 7497) towards Virginia Water (right), his fishing-rod against his shoulder. He wears a hat with a wide curving brim inscribed á la Townsend [cf. British Museum satires no. 10293], double-breasted tail-coat, breeches, and pumps; his right arm rests on the ring of the stand, in his hand is a small book: Old Izack [Walton]. From the stand dangles an ornate reticule: Fish Bag; the base is decorated with two fat squatting mandarins. Lady Conyngham looks over her right shoulder at the King, puffing from her effort, but singing Rule Britannia; the crossbar at which she tugs is a sceptre. She wears an enormous ribbon-trimmed bonnet and décolletée dress; the hook from the King's line has caught in her dress which strains across her vast posterior as she leans forward. Knighton wears a court-suit with bag-wig and sword. He pushes with both hands with great concentration, singing, Send him Victorious. In his coat-pocket are a clyster-pipe and a paper: Petition of the Unborn Babes. A signpost terminating in a realistic hand points To Virginia Water. There is a background of trees and water."--British Museum online catalogue and A later impression [i.e. state] of British Museum Satires No. 15413 ... A scroll has been added beside Knighton's coat-tails inscribed with his 'places of profit': Clerk of Stannaries Recr Genl Duchy of Cornwall, Privy Purse &c &c &c. See Diary of H. Hobhouse, loc. cit. A border has been added."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Attributed to William Heath in the British Museum catalogue., and Sheet trimmed within plate mark.
Publisher:
Pub. June 27th, 1827, by S.W. Fores, Pciadilly [sic]
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain.
Subject (Name):
George IV, King of Great Britain, 1762-1830, Knighton, William, Sir, 1776-1836, and Conyngham, Elizabeth Conyngham, Marchioness, -1861
Subject (Topic):
Bonnets, Fishing & hunting gear, Mistresses, Obesity, Physicians, British, Pulling, Scepters, Medical equipment & supplies, and Traffic signs & signals
"Sheridan (l.) sits in an arm-chair at his writing-table, pen in hand. He slouches forward, peering at a large playbill in his left hand. 'Tom Hickathrift \ and the \ Giants \ a new Growlo Drama \ with \ Wittington \ and his \ Cat \ a Pur-letta \ in which a real \ Cat and Mice \ will be Introduced \ - Due Notice will be given \ of Mr Carlo's next \ Performance.' He says: "Now I have got my head down Water I am determined to go on Swimmingly." The Newfoundland dog 'Carlo' (his massive padlocked collar so inscribed) who played in 'The Caravan', faces Sheridan holding in his mouth a basket labelled 'Raw Materials for New Subjects'; these are rolled MSS. inscribed: 'Dog-Matical Essays', 'Bark-shire Poems', 'Bones to Pick'. Fox (r.), immensely fat stands beside Carlo, in profile to the left., r. hand on the dog's head, l. in his coat-pocket. He says: "You are a very good Dog Namesake - a very good Dog indeed - I wish you would Spin me a little Money thes hard times - it would be very acceptable." Behind Sheridan are book-shelves; from a shelf inscribed 'Glass Slippers as good as New' two slippers dangle. The titles of the (bulky) books are: 'Jack the Giant Killer', 'Goody Two Shoes', 'little Red Riding Hood', 'Tom Thumb', 'Seven Champions [of Christendom]'; actually these tales were best known in penny chap-books"--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Preparations for next season
Description:
Title from item., Sheet trimmed to plate mark on two sides., Printmaker from British Museum catalogue., Printseller's announcement following imprint: Folios of caracatures [sic] lent out for the evening., and Mounted to 29 x 40 cm.
Publisher:
Pubd. Feby. 6th, 1804 by S.W. Fores, 50 Piccadilly
Subject (Name):
Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806 and Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816
"An elderly general rides a high-stepping horse in profile to the left, posed like an equestrian statue. He wears a high cocked hat with cockade and plume; his sword-belt is buckled over his sash, which girds a heavy paunch. In his right hand is a cane. He is Lt.-General Richard England of Lifford, co. Clare, Colonel of the 5th Foot and Lt.-Governor of Plymouth, father of Sir Richard England (b. 1793). He was a veteran of the American War, and had been one of the first colonists of Western Upper Canada."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Sheet trimmed within plate mark on three sides, with minimal loss of image from right edge., Leaf 71 in an album with the spine title: Characatures by Dighton., and Watermark, trimmed: [Ed]meads 1808.
"A half length portrait of Matthew Day standing in profile to the right. He is very obese, wears round hat, long coat, tasselled Hessian boots, and holds a cane in his gloved hand."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image. and Leaf 31 in an album with the spine title: Characatures by Dighton.
