A Peep at Christies;–or–Tally-ho & his Nimeny-pimeney taking the Morning Lounge
James Gillray British
Publisher Hannah Humphrey British
Not on view
Gillray here contrasts the short, stout figure of the Earl of Derby with the tall, thin form of his mistress Elizabeth Farren, a leading comic actress associated with London's Drury Lane Theatre. The couple examine pictures in Christies's sale rooms at 125 Pall Mall. She admires "Zenocrates & Phryne" (an image of an ancient philosopher who loved a Greek courtesan), while he inspects a fox hunting scene titled "The Death." Nimeney-Pimeney, mentioned in the title, was a role that Farren had famously performed in General Burgoyne's play "The Heiress" in 1786. After a liason lasting eighteen years, the couple finally married in 1797--a year after this print was published--following the death of the Earl's wife.
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