Washing the Blackamoor.
I.C. [Isaac Cruikshank]
Pub. by S W Fores No 50 Piccadilly London jully 24 1795.
Coloured etching. 250 x 355mm (9¾ x 14"), on laid paper watermarked 'J Whatman'. Trimmed to plate at top, repair entering plate on left taped. Small margins on 3 sides.
Two ladies wash the face of Frances Villiers, Lady Jersey, attempting to remove her mixed-race complexion, helped by the Prince of Wales. She asks ''Does it look any whiter?'', to which the relies are ''You may as well attempt to remove the Island of Jersey to the Highest Mountain in Wales'' and "This stain will remain for ever''. Villiers remained a Lady of the Bedchamber to Caroline despite her affair with George until the Royal couple's separation. Cruikshank uses the fabled story of how to wash a blackamoor white to satirise Villiers' reputation.
BM Satires 8667.
[Ref: 54607] £360.00
Pub. by S W Fores No 50 Piccadilly London jully 24 1795.
Coloured etching. 250 x 355mm (9¾ x 14"), on laid paper watermarked 'J Whatman'. Trimmed to plate at top, repair entering plate on left taped. Small margins on 3 sides.
Two ladies wash the face of Frances Villiers, Lady Jersey, attempting to remove her mixed-race complexion, helped by the Prince of Wales. She asks ''Does it look any whiter?'', to which the relies are ''You may as well attempt to remove the Island of Jersey to the Highest Mountain in Wales'' and "This stain will remain for ever''. Villiers remained a Lady of the Bedchamber to Caroline despite her affair with George until the Royal couple's separation. Cruikshank uses the fabled story of how to wash a blackamoor white to satirise Villiers' reputation.
BM Satires 8667.
[Ref: 54607] £360.00