From Soho

Publisher Robert Sayer and John Bennett British

December 26, 1776

Not on view

Loutherbourg moved to London from Paris in 1771 and worked for David Garrick at the Drury Lane Theatre, introducing transformative set designs and lighting effects. During this busy decade he produced "Caricatures of the English," perhaps intending them for the French market. This example centers on a thin woman wearing a voluminous cap and shoes supported by spiked heels. Henry Angelo identified her in his memoirs as a "lady abbess" (slang for a brothel keeper whose "house" in Soho would have been close to London's major theaters).The set of caricatures was in fact only published in London, first by Torre & Co. in 1775 (Giovanni Battista Torre was a friend of the artist who had traveled with him to England), reissued soon afterward by Sayer & Bennett in 1776, and a third time in 1790 by William Holland.

Artwork Details

Title: From Soho
Series/Portfolio: Caricatures of the English
Artist: Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg (French, Strasbourg 1740–1812 London)
Publisher: Robert Sayer and John Bennett (British, active 1774–83)
Date: December 26, 1776
Medium: Etching; third state
Dimensions: plate: 6 5/16 x 4 5/8 in. (16 x 11.7 cm)
sheet: 8 9/16 x 5 5/16 in. (21.7 x 13.5 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1962
Object Number: 62.600.557
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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