Flemish characters / drawn and engraved by James Gillray, 1783.

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James Gillray
1756-1815
Flemish characters / drawn and engraved by James Gillray, 1783.
hand colored etching
image: 22 x 35 cm; plate: 23 x 36.4 cm; sheet: 24.5 x 37.8 cm
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1900.
Peel 2808
Published: 
[London] : G. Humphrey, 27 St. James' St., Jan'y 1, 1822
Provenance: 
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Notes: 

A companion print to Peel 2807 (George 8382), of the same title.

Summary: 

A scene in the market-square of a Flemish town (Ghent?). On the left is a row of booths, under the projecting roof of one a fat woman sits behind a table on which is a teetotum: an arrow swings on a dial. She is surrounded by men who proffer coins; a small boy gapes at this gambling scene. On the right a town-crier reading from a paper and ringing his bell is the chief figure of a group: a peasant woman carrying milk-pails on a yoke, four men, two little girls, a dog. In the right centre priests listen intently to one of their number who stands in back view reading from a paper. Behind (left), a monk takes a woman by the chin. In the background British guardsmen, standing stiffly at attention, are being drilled. Behind them are buildings with steep crow-stepped gables and a church spire.

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