National conveniences / Js. Gy. dn. et ft.

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James Gillray
1756-1815
National conveniences / Js. Gy. dn. et ft.
etching
image: 34.6 x 24.5 cm; plate: 35.5 x 25.4 cm; sheet: 37 x 26.9 cm
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1900.
Peel 2922
Published: 
[London] : H. Humphrey, 1796.
Provenance: 
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Summary: 

Four designs on one pl. [1] 'English Convenience - the Water Closet'. A grossly obese alderman of repulsive appearance sits full-face, clasping his sides. He wears his gown and chain, one gouty leg is swathed in bandages. On the wall behind his head are two placards: 'Bill of Fare, - Turtle Soup Fish Poultry H . . .' and a broadside, 'Roast Beef of old England headed by a sirloin'. [2] 'Scotch Convenience - the Bucket'. A woman seated in back view on a pair of tongs across a bucket in some sort of permanent shelter composed of ramshackle planks. On this are two papers: 'The Sweets of Edinbro' to the Tune of Tweedside' (cf. BMSat 5941) and 'Croudie a Scotch Reel'. In the foreground are pigs and poultry. [3] 'French Convenience - le Commodites'. A pretty young woman, full-face, in a latrine with three apertures. She crouches with one foot on the ground, one on the seat. On the wall are two papers: 'Caira nouvelle chanson' and 'Soupe Maigre petit Chanson.' [4] 'Dutch Convenience - the Lake'. A stout man (? or woman) in back view sits on a rail, smoking a pipe. In the foreground is shallow water with ducks. Behind and in close proximity are town houses with high crow-stepped gables.

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