- Museum number
- 1868,0808.8589
- Title
- Object: An O.P.ra ball, finishing with a scotch reel, to the tune of catch him & keep him!
- Description
-
The four dancers are Maria Mercandotti and Ball Hughes, flanked by Lord Fife (left), playing a fife, and a Scottish parson (right). The danseuse, in ballet dress, holds up a large purse, saying, I have now completed my engagement. Danced to a Golden Ball, so a fig for Ebers & his contract. Hughes, dressed as a dandy, holds up one of the instruments played by street musicians and Pandean minstrels, in which a pole held vertically supports an arrangement of small bells (a Jingling Johnny). This is topped by the three balls of a pawnbroker. He says: Make free Dotte Father's left me all his Duplicates [pawn-tickets], & we'll make a splash. Fife, in full Highland costume, dances with agility, saying, I have finished the Dance & can look out now for another Partner. The parson, in shovel-hat, gown and bands, with tartan breeches and stockings, holds up a purse inscribed 100. Above his head hangs a picture of Duff House. Behind and on the extreme left Ebers, Manager of the Opera, stands in a doorway, holding aside a curtain. He frowns towards the danseuse, saying, I'll make you fullfill your Engagement, or Dance me some of those Shiners. Behind Hughes (right) a young woman clasps her hands despairingly, exclaiming oh pauvre petitte Gordon. A patterned carpet completes the design. April 16 1823
Etching
- Production date
- 1823
- Dimensions
-
Height: 271 millimetres
-
Width: 357 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M. Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', X, 1952)
See No. 14549, &c. Mercandotti disappeared without warning, when a crowded audience expected to see her in the popular ballet Alfred. Gronow, Reminiscences, ii. 91 f. A canard that Hughes's fortune was from his father, a slop-seller in Ratcliffe Highway who married Admiral Hughes's widow, is illustrated; see The English Spy, 1825, ii. 323 f. Hughes was the son of Captain Ball, R.N., his fortune was from his stepfather, Admiral Hughes. D.N.B.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1868,0808.8589
