Farmer Giles & his wife shewing off their daughter Betty to their neighbours on her return from school [graphic] / drawn by an amateur ; etch'd by Js. Gillray.

London : Publish'd January 1st, 1809, by H. Humphrey, 27 St. James's Street, [1 January 1809]

1 print : etching ; plate mark 32.0 x 48 cm, on sheet 35 x 50 cm

wove paper

From a collection in twelve volumes probably compiled by Francis Harvey and sold at auction, Sotheby, London, June 1900. Bequest of Hugh Dudley Auchincloss to Yale University Library, 1981. Bound by Riviere & Son in three-quarters red morocco with gold tooling and gold lettering on spine.

"A rich farmer's parlour or drawing-room, with curtains drawn over two high windows (right). Betty, plump and bucolic, wearing a high-waisted dress with short sleeves, sits at a square piano (left), in profile to the left, laboriously playing and singing, her eyes on the music: 'Bluebells of Scotland Sung by Mrs Jordan. O Where & O Where is my Highland Laddie gone'. The farmer and his wife stand by the piano, gaping in delighted admiration; they are stout, good-humoured, and plainly dressed. A younger girl, slimmer and less rustic, stands by the piano (left), singing; she holds up a fan. Under the piano is a book: 'Songs of Catalani'. Three elderly ladies sit at a card-table (right), on which are spread drawings or embroidery by 'B. Giles'. One sleeps, two gossip with spiteful zest. A son of the house sits primly with his back to the windows, in profile to the left, his hands folded, ill at ease in frilled shirt, and powdered hair. A small foot-boy enters from the right with a decanter and glasses on a salver and a cake-basket on his arm, the cakes falling out. A spaniel sits dejectedly in the foreground. The room is lit by two pairs of candles in sconces, two candles on the piano, and one on the table. The chairs are of modern shape, with stuffed backs and ormolu ornament. Above the chimney-piece is a heavily framed sampler with two alphabets, figures from 1 to 12, 'Evil communications Corrupt good Manners', and a design of two birds flanking two hearts pierced with arrows, inscribed: 'Betty Giles aged 16. 1808. Cheese Hall'. Over the piano in an oval frame is a view of 'Cheese-Farm': the corner of a house next a small thatched cottage and two haystacks. A gigantic horse looks over the cottage roof, and in the foreground a woman milks a large cow, beside which are two geese and a cock larger than the woman."--British Museum online catalogue.

Farmer Giles and his wife shewing off their daughter Betty to their neighbours on her return from school

English

June 22, 2011