A New Edition Considerably Enlarged of Attitudes Faithfully Copied from Nature 1807
Etching on blue paper | 26.2 x 19.2 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 655737
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An etching satirising Lady Hamilton's famous 'attitudes'. She is shown seated in a chair, resting her head on her hands. Emma, Lady Hamilton, performed her classically-inspired 'attitudes' from 1787 to audiences of invited guests in Naples, where her husband Sir William was British Envoy. In 1794, the attitudes were the subject of a set of engravings by Tommaso Piroli after Friedrich Rehberg. Piroli's prints (and implicitly Lady Hamilton, by then resident back in London) were mocked by James Gillray in an 1807 series of twelve plates showing the renowned beauty as an ungainly frump. This print satirises plate three of Piroli's series.
Provenance
Purchased by George IV when Prince of Wales from Hannah Humphrey, 24 April 1807 (Royal Archives, GEO/MAIN/27397)
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Creator(s)
(printmaker)Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
Etching on blue paper
Measurements
26.2 x 19.2 cm (sheet of paper)
Category
Object type(s)
Alternative title(s)
A New Edition Considerably Enlarged of Attitudes Faithfully Copied from Nature