A spencer & a thread-paper
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James Gillray
1756-1815
A spencer & a thread-paper
etching and aquatint, hand colored
image: 250 x 193 mm; sheet: 253 x 196 mm
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1900.
Peel 2783
Published:
[London] : Pubd. May 17th 1792 by H. Humphrey, No. 18 Old Bond Street, [1792]
Provenance:
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Notes:
Trimmed to within plate mark.
Printmaker from BM Satires.
BM Satires identifies the subject on the left as George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer (1758-1834).
Summary:
Print shows two men in back view walking arm-in-arm, one (left) is short and fat, the other tall and thin. The former wears a short coat or "spencer" over his tail-coat, with wrinkled top-boots and a round hat, and carries a riding-switch. His hair is in a short queue with projecting side-pieces. The other wears a cylindrical hat with brim curled up at the sides, a coat reaching almost to his ankles with five capes forming a point in the centre of the back, with shoes tied with strings. He carries a bludgeon. The shoulders of both men are frosted with powder.
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