A Voluptuary Under the Horrors of Digestion

James Gillray|Hannah Humphrey

July 2, 1792 · Hand-colored etching · Drawings and Prints

Gillray’s famously brutal caricature of George, Prince of Wales encapsulates the effects of uncontrolled self-indulgence upon the heir to the British throne. Sprawled in his chair after a lavish meal, the prince picks his teeth with a meat fork; his lack of gentility is underscored by the over-flowing chamber pot at his elbow used to anchor unpaid bills. Just thirty years old, his accumulated ailments can be inferred from remedies piled at right – pills and potions to treat "stinking breath", "piles" (hemorrhoids), venereal disease and poor digestion. A portrait on the wall suggests a more effective remedy – depicting Luigi Carnarro, a Venetian nobleman whose life was famously saved by going on a strict diet. By including "Voluptuary" in the title, Gillray invoked contemporary worries that traditional British masculine virtues were being enervated by a culture obsessed with luxury.

Artist

James Gillray|Hannah Humphrey

Date

July 2, 1792

Medium

Hand-colored etching

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Adele S. Gollin, 1976