Femme a vendre ou a 15 Schellings ma femme

Anon

Femme a vendre ou a 15 Schellings ma femme

Paris ca. 1820

Etching

Original hand colouring

320 x 250 mm

£180

Above the image, Costume Angloise.

A scene at market in England. A husband is putting his wife up for auction, in what appears to be a cattle market. She stands on a trestle table, a rope loosely tied around her neck, the end or which is held by her husband standing below her.  A large bull is resting on the ground in front of her, and a group of animated mne are standing around looking at the woman. Behind a group of cattle in the back ground is a sign inscribed Marche de Betes a Cornes

The French were deeply shocked by this English practice and did not hesitate to mock it. Here, the husband is depicted wearing horns (courtesy of the ox strategically placed behind him), implying that his wife has been unfaithful