Dilettanti-theatricals, or, A peep at the green room vide, Pic-Nic-orgies / [graphic]

"A crowded scene, the amateurs of the Pic Nic Society are dressing and rehearsing. The design may derive from Hogarth's 'Actresses dressing in a Barn' (BMSat 2403), Gillray stressing the contrast between his luxurious mise-en-scène and the squalor of Hogarth's players. The centre figure is Lady Buckinghamshire, enormous, florid, and gorgeous, her skirts outspread, standing before a dressing-table, touching one of many patches on her face and holding her part, that of 'Roxana' [in Lee's tragedy, 'The Rival Queens; or the Death of Alexander the Great']. Under her dressing-table is a square bottle of 'Usquebaugh' and a glass. On Roxana's l., with her back to the dressing-table, sits Lady Salisbury, her legs crossed and much exposed, pulling on a laced boot. Her neck is swathed with a spotted cravat as in BMSat 9908. Near her on the floor are the second boot, a pair of breeches, and her part: 'the Part of Squire Groom to be per[formed], by [Lady Salisbu]ry'. She gazes at the huge Lord Cholmondeley who stands in profile to the left., dominating the left. of the design. He is dressed as Cupid; a tunic covered with a design of ring-doves, hearts, arrows, and cross a torches defines a vast paunch across which is a tricolour ribbon inscribed 'Amor Vincit Omnia'. He has butterfly wings, massive quiver filled with heavy arrows, and holds an arrow in his left hand. He stands impassively, his head wreathed with flowers. In the foreground, in front of Cholmondeley stands the tiny Lord Mount Edgcumbe in a swaggering attitude, studying his part: 'Alexander the Great', as in BMSat 9916. He wears armour, with a swathed cravat and vandyked ruff, and a helmet on which is a dragon spitting fire. Facing Cholmondeley and immediately behind Lady Salisbury is little Lord Derby blowing a French horn. Behind is a group of musicians: Lord Carlisle (l.) blows the bassoon with a melancholy expression, facing Lord Salisbury who pompously plays a small fiddle. Between them is Col. Greville or Lord Abercorn playing the triangle. ..."--British Museum online catalogue