Contrasted Lovers.

Richard Newton

Contrasted Lovers.

London, W. Holland August 3^rd 1796

Etching

Partly hand coloured

245x360mm

£450

A rare, somewhat crude caricature. Two gentlemen sit back to back in comfortable armchairs. On the left a handsome young lover, hand on his heart, gazes at a miniature portrait of his ladylove. He says – Give me sweet Nectar in a Kiss, And let me taste ambrosial bliss. On the right a grotesquely ugly, bottle nosed, pot bellied, old squire sits reading a pamphlet on the Wine Tax while drinking a glass of port and smoking his pipe. He proclaims – Give me my Nectar in a Glass, And as for Kissing  – Kiss my A–.  Not in BM Cat.