Advantages of wearing Muslin Dresses!-

James Gillray

Advantages of wearing Muslin Dresses!-

London, H Humphrey, 15^th Feb 1802

Etching

Original hand colouring (rather faded)

260 x 360 mm

Stuck on old board.

£550

After the title: ‘dedicated to the serious attention of the Fashionable Ladies of Great Britain’. An enormously fat lady flings up arms, legs, and tea-cup in terror, as her flimsy gown catches fire from a red-hot poker falling from the grate (left). She, a stiff military officer, and a young woman sit at a round tea-table. The man sits paralysed, alarmed and helpless, spilling his tea; the girl has added to the calamity by knocking over the tea-table so that urn and tea-pot spill their scalding contents, and crockery slides towards the floor. A loutish footman enters (right) but has stopped dead, dropping a dish of muffins. A frightened cat scampers from the hearth-rug. Over the chimney-piece is a picture of Vesuvius in eruption. The woman is a monstrous creature with bare arms and elaborately dressed hair (or wig), a patterned carpet completes the design. Cf. BMSat 9956.