print;
satirical print
- Museum number
- J,2.61
- Title
- Object: A mushroom frogstool, and puff.
- Description
-
A design satirizing the umbrella and the broad-brimmed hat. A man stands full-face wearing a hat with an enormous circular brim slightly turned up at the edges. Wisps of hair project stiffly from each side of his head. His hands are thrust into his breeches-pockets. Under his left arm is a whip with a short handle and a thick plaited lash. He is wearing top-boots. A stone by his feet is inscribed "From a Dunghill". Behind (right) a rough-looking obese man walks in profile to the left. He wears a similar hat and jack-boots; he holds a knotted stick resting on his right shoulder; his left hand is on his hip. On the right a man foppishly dressed with a wide three-cornered hat, coat with epaulettes, and sword is walking away from the spectator carrying an umbrella. A shop window is indicated in the background in which broad-brimmed hats are displayed on blocks. There is faint scratched lettering in the upper right corner: "Modern Extinguishers Sold Here by A Broadbrim Hatter". Beneath the title is etched "Here to-day & gone to-morrow". c.1780
Hand-coloured etching
- Production date
- 1775-1780
- Dimensions
-
Height: 153 millimetres
-
Width: 103 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- The date of 1780 given by George is taken from one added in manuscript by Sarah Sophia Banks to an impression, which generally refers to the date of acquisition, not necessarily that of production. She does not identify the printmaker
(Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', V, 1935)
The umbrella, in spite of the efforts of James Hanway (d. 1786), was still an object of derision in London when used by men. John Macdonald, a footman, used one from Jan. 1778 and was at first greeted with the shout "Frenchman, Frenchman! why dont you call a coach?" John Macdonald, 'Travels', ed. J. Beresford, 1927, pp. xxiii. 236. See BMSat 6132.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1818
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- J,2.61