A Bit of Flattery

Charles Williams
A Bit of Flattery
London, (T. Tegg 1807)
Etching
Original hand-colouring
245x345mm
£220
A tall, fashionably dressed, Irish portrait painter stands with his cocked hat under his arm, between a hugely fat, ugly young lady and the portrait he has just painted of her. She wears a decolletee dress and gloves and carries a small parasol, and stands with coyly downcast eyes. On the canvas (a good likeness) she is transformed into Juno pouring out a libation to Jove (depicted as a small eagle with thunderbolts clutched in his claws), and she wears a quasi-classical draperies with her enormous breasts and arms bare. The painter (doubtless thinking of his fee) is flatteringly extolling her sparkling eyes and dimpled cheeks. BM 10915