Waist and Extravagance

Thomas McLean|William Heath ('Paul Pry')

March 28, 1829 · Hand-colored etching · Drawings and Prints

Heath's satire centers on a woman wearing a pink, tightly corseted gown with a flounced skirt elaborately decorated with blue ribbons echoing birds, and with three-layered puffed. The ensemble is topped with a huge hat whose huge brim is decorated below and above, and enhanced with falling ribbons. The title suggests that current fashions have reached an extreme point of development. Like many of Heath's prints from this period, it is signed with a small top-hatted dandy holding an umbrella–Paul Pry, a nosy character from a play.

Artist

Thomas McLean|William Heath ('Paul Pry')

Date

March 28, 1829

Medium

Hand-colored etching

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Jill Spalding, 2022