"A companion print to BMSat 9670. In a squalid room French dancers practise to a fiddle played by an older man (right) who dances as he plays. The parents of the four children dance, facing each other. She is elegant, buxom, with an elaborate feathered coiffure. He is lean, wearing a tattered but well-fitting coat over bare legs, with sleeve-ruffles (cf. the old gibe that the Frenchman wore ruffles but no shirt). He wears a toupee wig with a long queue. A boy and girl, both with hair elaborately dressed, dance together more vigorously. A little girl (right) with bare legs practises the first position, heels together. On the left a boy plays the pipe and tabor to two dogs, one wearing cloak and hat, whom he is teaching to dance. His chair is the only furniture except for a truckle-bed (left) turned up to the wall and a much-tilted wall-mirror (right). A lean cat has climbed to a small cupboard recessed in the wall near the ceiling and licks a stoppered bottle. The cupboard contains a coffee-pot, a covered jar, &c. A print of two clumsy peasant dancers is pinned to the wall, from which plaster has flaked. All practise with serious concentration."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image.
Publisher:
Pubd. Novr. 5, 1792 by S.W. Fores, No. 3 Piccadilly
Subject (Geographic):
France
Subject (Topic):
Foreign opinion, British, Cats, Children, Couples, Dogs, Dance, and Interiors
An Italian family, in a poverty-stricken room, practise for opera. A young man stands full-face, singing, his fingers interlaced across his chest. He wears an open, ruffled shirt, awaistcoat, breeches, and ungartered stockings. To his right an old man plays an enormous 'cello. To his left a middle-aged man, seated in profile singing, plays a low harpsichord; he wears open ruffled shirt and breeches, with bare legs. Beside him on the extreme left a little boy dressed in a shirt plays the violin. On the extreme right a pretty young woman sits over the fire with an infant on her knee; she holds out a cloth to dry, looking over her shoulder to sing. Her score ('Affetuoso') is pinned to the chimney-piece, on which stands a crucifix with a tankard, &c. A lean greyhound howls up the chimney. All but the old man have fashionably dressed hair, and a certain elegance. The room is lit from an open casement window (left); there are dark cast shadows and the bare room has no ceiling. On the wall are a print of 'Vestris' dancing, a sword, a play-bill: 'l'Avaro Deluso' (opera by Paisiello, libretto by Vulpius), and a bunch of farthing dips; on the window ledge a cracked mirror, cocked hat, bottles, &c. Beneath the harpsichord is a large bowl labeled 'Macaroni'; and in the foreground lie a violin, music-books, earthenware pots, &c."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., and Watermark: J Whatman.
Publisher:
Pubd. Decr. 1785 by S. Alken, No. 3 Dufours Place, Broad Street, Soho. Sold by W. Hinton, No. 5 Sweeting Alley, Cornhill
Subject (Name):
Vulpius, Christian August, 1762-1827, Paisiello, Giovanni, 1740-1816, and Vestris, Auguste, 1760-1842
Subject (Topic):
Children, Families, Italian, Mothers, Musical instruments, Musicians, and Singing
"A hand-coloured plate divided into four compartments. Waiting for Dinner: an impatient diner shows his servant the time as the servant uncorks a bottle; At Dinner: a man heartily eats as the servant pours wine; After Dinner: A man leans back in his chair as a maid clears the table; Preparing for Supper: A maid puts a napkin on a diner who is guided into his chair by a servant."--Royal Collection Trust online catalogue
Description:
Title from collective title etched at bottom of plate., Artist signature below lower left design; printmaker signature below lower right design., Four designs on one plate, each individually titled within an etched and aquatinted border., Description based on impression in the Royal Collection, RCIN 810354., Not in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires., 1 print : aquatint and etching on laid paper, hand-colored; sheet 21 x 26 cm., and Imperfect; only lower left design entitled "After dinner" present. The three other designs on plate, the collective title, and the imprint statement have been trimmed from sheet.
Publisher:
Pubd. Octr. 22, 1789, by S. Alken, No. 2 Francis Street East, Bedford Square
Subject (Topic):
Bottles, Bowls (Tableware), Dining rooms, Fireplaces, Glassware, Interiors, Obesity, Pipes (Smoking), Stairways, Tableware, Tobacco, Wine, and Women domestics
"Six doughty doctors standing together in discussion, wearing wigs, tailcoats and carrying tricorne hats and walking canes; one at left thoughtfully taps his mouth with the handle of his cane, one at centre, seen from behind, holds his hat behind his back in both hands, a sword at his side; another at right leans forward solidly, resting his folded arms on his cane."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Probably a later state of the plate, with additional aquatint shading added. For a probable earlier state with the imprint "London, Pubd. Septr. 1785 by S. Alken ....", see Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession no.: 59.533.100., Date of publication from the British Museum online catalogue, registration no.: 1943,1113.254., Sheet trimmed within plate mark with possible loss of imprint from lower edge., Not in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires., and Temporary local Medical Library subject terms: Consultation.
