| Method | Etching with original hand colouring |
| Artist | Charles Williams |
| Published | Pubd. 1819 by S.W. Fores, No. 50 Piccadilly |
| Dimensions | Image 230 x 333 mm, Plate 245 x 355 mm, Sheet 245 x 380 mm |
| Notes |
A pair of satires on the same plate representing the unhappy marriage of the Duke of York and Princess Frederica Charlotte of Prussia, sarcastically titled 'Conjugal Felicity' by the regency caricaturist Charles Williams. In the first scene, the Duke of York's impressive avoirdupois is positioned on a gilded empire chair in a room overlooking the tower of Windsor Castle. He gazes in soppy devotion at the face of a buxom young woman, who wraps a sling around his injured arm, positioning his hand against her thigh whilst she does so. Having caught his spur on a trouser leg, the Duke had fallen and broken his arm. The Duke is attired in military dress and the offending trousers are shown here as comically large, with the spurs prominent. His sword is abandoned on the floor, over a paper reading 'Physician's Report,' and his cocked hat rests on a sofa along with the young lady's bonnet. A speech bubble from his would-be nurse reads: 'I'll carrey you home to the stable Yard my Dear! where I will nurse you as tenderly as I would my own Chickens; or as Kate does her Dogs; and as for John Bulls Ill natured assertions of its being a Judgment, never mind it, who cares for what he says, or what he thinks!!' The willing invalid replies 'Oh! You Dear Angel!!' On the other side of the scene is 'Kate' and her dogs, the eccentric Princess Frederica Charlotte, the Duke's estranged wife. She sits in a parlour surrounded by dogs of various breeds. One sleeps in a basket in the corner, another nurses a brood of puppies on a red velvet tasselled cushion, while others sit attentively or eat and drink from various dishes and bowls. The Princess sits in the midst of her pets, ministering to the leg of a favourite as the buxom young woman in the other room tends to her husband's arm. Before her on a table is a veritable pharmacy of treatments, including bottles of Riga Balsam, Turmeric, Opodeldoc, and Dyachylon plaster. An open bookcase in the background contains various canine histories and breed books, and her walls are decorated by illustrations of famous dogs. Another of her brood barks at the door, which opens to admit a furtive man with a finger to the side of his nose who interjects with incorrect intelligence of her husband's fall: 'Broke his Neck!' His mistress is disinterested, responding 'Indeed! Well I'll go and see as soon as I've bound up dear Fidells pretty toe! poor dear ting, I hope you haven't hurt yourself my dear, dear Cullene!' Princess Frederica Charlotte's enthusiasm for dogs, as well as monkeys and other animals, was infamous in the unhappy years of her marriage to the Duke, with her father in law, George III, apparently commenting after her death that, without children, her affections must make do with pets. Charles Williams (active 1796-1830) was a British printmaker. In particular, he was a prolific etcher of satires to his own or others' designs. Almost all of his plates are unsigned. In later years he worked for different publishers simultaneously, including Fores, E. Walker, members of the Knight family, and Tegg (from 1807). BM Satires 13226 Condition: Trimmed to platemark at top and bottom, without loss to image. Time toning and waterstaining to sheet. Small pinpricks to left hand side of sheet. Old adhesive stains to verso |
| Framing | unmounted |
| Price | £250.00 |
| Stock ID | 52983 |