1778

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University

THE STUDIOUS BEAUTY

371
Printed for & Sold by Carington Bowles at his Map & Print Warehouse, No. 69 in St. Pauls Church Yard London. Publish'd as the Act directs (erased)

An fashionably dressed young gentlewoman sits beside a table, knees crossed, reading a book. Two other books lie on the table. A pot with a flowering bush stands before a window, at the upper left corner, that looks out upon a landscape that suggests a garden. The image was engraved by J.R. Smith as part of "Ladies in Fashionable Dresses." Surviving impressions include the date "1 Jan. 1778."

Reproduced: D'Oench(1999), p. 53

Cat: D'Oench(1999), p. 202

32.9 x 25.1 cm.
Lewis Walpole Library (colour, no date, 778.1.1.2), Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Courtesy of the Print Collection, New York Public Library

A BAGNIO SCENE: With a white legged Chicken coaxking an old Dotard

London: Printed for R. Sayer & J. Bennett, No. 53 Fleet Street, as the Act directs, 2nd March 1778

The scene is an elaborately decorated room with two oval landscapes up high, a mythological painting with nude to the right, a clock with carved wood Cupid, a Chinese screen in the right background, and elegantly crafted couch and coffee table. The central figures are a small elderly man and a pretty young coquette with an enormous coif who adjusts the dotard's bow tie as he gazes at her intently and drapes his arm around her shoulder. To the right stands a well-dressed older woman, likely a procuress though she wears a cross on a chain along with another necklace. On the table by her hand is a paper which may record a transaction. In the background to a right of the coquette sits another gentleman whose is age is closer to the older woman.

32.5 x 24.7 cm.
New York Public Library (MEZYRK BM5511B), Lewis Walpole Library (778.3.2.2)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, New York Public Library

A BAGNIO SCENE, Plate 2

London: Printed for R. Sayer & J. Bennett, No. 53 Fleet Street, as the Act directs, 20 March 1778

In this companion brothel scene, the figures and decor are rendered more crudely than in Plate 1. Here an elderly gentleman with a walking stick offers a fur muff to a young courtesan. Her gown is a rich satin and she wears a fur trimmed cape and a feather in her elaborate hairdressing. Her elegance sets her off from the simply dressed procuress to the far right and the two girls in plain dressing gowns in the canopied bed that provides the background. One is asleep or passed out; the other holds a punch bowl and liquor bottle. On each dressing gowns have fallen away to expose a breast. The round table before the bed also contains a bottle and plate of cookies.

32.5 x 25 cm.
New York Public Library (MEZYRK BM5511C)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, New York Public Library

The FAVOURITE FOOTMAN, or MISS well MOUNTED

From an Original Picture Painted by John Collett London. Printed for R. Sayer and J. Bennett, Map & Printseller, No. 53 Fleet Street as the Act directs 6th April 1778

A young gentlewoman looks down coyly as a handsome footman stoops and forms a step with his hand in order to boost her onto her side saddle. As she steps into his hand, her hem rises to expose her calf to the knee. His horse stands behind hers (r.) and from his boots and spurs, it is evident he will be riding with her. Her spaniel sits (l.) looking up at the gentlewoman. The scene is rural with a richly detailed background of trees and clouds. A related image by John Collett is Miss too Much for Him, or John not Master of Sixteen Stone, published by Sayer, May 27, 1779.

32.5 x 25 cm.
New York Public Library (MEZYRK)
14 x 11.2 cm.
Lewis Walpole Library (printed "10 Augt 1778," 778.8.10.1)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University

One of the Tribe of Levi, going to Brakefast with a Young Christian

London. Printed for R.Sayer & J. Bennett, Map & Printsellers, No. 53 Fleet Street, as the Act directs 27 May 1778

A bald and bearded Jew sits at a tea table bearing a serving tray with teapot and pastries. To his left an older woman in a fur trimmed gown appears to be introducing a young woman who stands facing him. He gestures toward a chair beside him on the left that has been drawn back from the table by a black servant. The two paintings on the wall may include one of Joseph rejecting Potipher's wife, the other a young woman resisting rape. The posture print from which this was reduced had been published by Sayer and Bennett "21 Jany 1778."

14 x 11.1 cm.
Lewis Walpole Library (778.5.27.1)
32.5 x 25 cm.
New York Public Library (no inscription but a handwritten title,"The Procuress or the Jew turning to a Christian," and note indicating the impression is a proof, MEZYRK) Surviving impressions include the date "21 Jany 1778."

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Library of Congress

HUMOURS OF MAY DAY Pl. 1

London, Printed for R. Sayer & J. Bennett Map & Printsellers No 53 Fleet Street, as the Act directs 1 Augt 1778.

Five figures dance on a cobblestone street before a thick stone wall broken with arches through which door and window of an inner wall are visible. The short figures are chimney sweeps and other poor folk costumed as upper-class. The dancer (r.) in profile wears a crown and ribboned wig, trimmed coat, breeches and buckled shoes. His features are the most extremely caricatured with long nose and chin. In his hand he carries a brush and dustpan. In the center, his back out, another man dances a reel, swinging a boy dressed as a lady by the elbow who faces out toward the foreground. He also wears a crown and carries a brush. She wears a large wig covered with a cap and a fine but tattered gown, and carries a small box. Beside her (l.) a smaller man or boy in a wig kicks up his heel and swings a brush, while an even shorter figure (l.) dances in a toupée with side-curls. A verse reads:

What Fun and Grimace
Abound in each Face
What Homage is paid to this Day//
Ev'n Sweeps highly prance,
And in fantastic Dance,
Announces return of the May.

Dorothy George in Hogarth to Cruikshank. . .notes that May Day was the festival of chimney sweeps and climbing boys.

32.8 x 25.1 cm.
Library of Congress (PC3+1778)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Library of Congress

HUMOURS OF MAY DAY Pl. 2

London, Printed for R. Sayer & J. Bennett Map & Printsellers No 53 Fleet Street, as the Act directs 1 Augt 1778.

Plate 2 shows the female counterpart of the chimney sweeps in Plate 1. This scene is placed in a more fashionable part of London in front of a townhouse with pillars, high windows and an elaborate wrought iron fence and gate. The sidewalk is made up of large stone or slate rectangular slabs and upon it five women dance or frolic. The figures are bunter, a woman who picks up rags, and bawd. The two dancing figures in the center appear to be bawds, the one (r.), her head turbaned or bandaged, dances with her arms crossed below her bare breasts, one hand holding a large clay pipe or ladle. The other with one breast bared and an elaborate hair piece topped by flowers turns with one hand on waist, the other above her head with a ladle. Two other women, one (l.) her back to the viewer, the other (r.) looking out frame these dancers. They too wear elaborate hats and other finery. Behind (c.) is a woman with a enormous head piece or hat comprised also of plates and other kitchen implements. The verse reads:

What Frolicks are here So
Droll and so queer
How joyful appeareth the Day//
E'en Bunter and Baud
Unite, to applaud
And celebrate first of the May.

33 x 25 cm.
Library of Congress (PC3+1778)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, New York Public Library

The Amourous Fryers, or Beauty more powerfull than Devotion

London. Printed for John Morris as the Act directs 3 Augt 1778

Seated on the edge of a huge canopied bed, two friars in robes with rosaries dally with courtesans, each woman with her breasts exposed. One (r.) sits on the friar's lap holding a wine glass in one hand and a decanter in the other which is around the friar's neck. He leers at her while he lifts her gown past mid-thigh with his left hand. The other friar buries his face in his courtesan's neck as he fondles a breast. She sits beside him on the bed with her left arm around his shoulders, her right hand groping under his robe. Two volumes, sermons or scripture, and a large cross lie in disarray on the floor before them.

32 x 24.7 cm.
New York Public Library (Satyr p.199)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University

A Scene in a Convent or Miss Tit ups Visit to Father Bald-Pate

London, Printed for R. Sayer & J. Bennett No. 53 Fleet Street, as the Act directs 10 Augt 1778

A mature woman in a chair(r.) faces an aging monk who sits on a bench beside her. He holds her left hand in her lap, speaks to her, and appears about to place his other hand on her breast, her bosom prominent over a low neckline. She looks down more as if she is watching his hand approach her breast than out of coyness. In the background, another monk, smiling broadly, peeks around a half open door. On the wall hangs a painting that suggests a classical rape rather than a religious subject.

14.5 x 11.3 cm.
Lewis Walpole Library (778.8.10.2)