Description:
Hand-colored print titled "THE DINNER Symptoms of Eating and Drinking" and inscribed "W H Bunbury Del" on the lower left corner. Henry William Bunbury (1750-1811) was an English caricaturist. After completing his studies at Cambridge University, he began to draw caricatures and other comic subjects, the first of which were etched and published in 1771. Bunbury then quickly rose to become one of the greatest satirical artists of the day with his etchings such as the series entitled, "Hints to Bad Horsemen." He also became close friends with the great artist, Thomas Rowlandson, who later engraved many of Bunbury's designs. This print was originally engraved by W. Dickinson and published as a colored stipple engraving by John Jeffryes, Ludgate Hill, on March 5. 1794, and later reissued such as this example. The scene depicts a dining room scene with seven dinners, five men and two women, seated in green, upholstered chairs around a long, rectangular table set with plates, knives and forks. The three men seated around the left end are talking as the host in a blue coat at the end holds a glass goblet and the man to his right hold a wine glass. The man in a blue jacket in the center of the table has an annoyed look on his face as he waits holding a knife and fork upright in front of him. The man in a red jacket with his back to the viewer is carving the meat course in front of him. The hostess and the second women are seated on the right end talking to each other while holding their wine glasses. There are two footmen standing at the two ends of the tables, the one on the left next to the host holding a salver, and one on the right end next to the hostess, a plate; and the butler or footman standing behind the table is filling wine glasses set on a side table. A small terrier and clipped poodle sniff each other's nose in the foreground. The wall in the background has three hanging pictures, a large, rectangular picture of two men trying to hold a horse flanked by two oval pictures, each of a fox hound. In a larger household, the butler stood at the sideboard table dispensing alcoholic beverages and supervising the servants. Men or boys took beverage orders from the male diners who had inquired of the ladies seated near them what beverages (wine, beer, or cider) they desired. The butler also looked for directions from the mistress about when to clear the table between courses.
Tags:
satire Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+79.044 |
