Accession number
PML 146857.78
Creator
Sayers, James, 1748-1823.
Published
[London] : Published by Thos. Cornell, 16th July 1786.
Credit line
Bequest of Gordon N. Ray, 1987.
Notes
Item no. 78 of a collection of prints by James Sayers (PML 146857); formerly part of an album of mounted prints, now disbound.
Description
1 print : etching ; image: 260 x 192 mm; plate mark: 276 x 202 mm; sheet: 301 x 225 mm
Inscriptions/Markings
In pencil at foot: Mrs. Webb Mrs. Edwards.
Provenance
From the library of Gordon N. Ray.
Summary
Two actresses in a prison scene from John Gay's, "Beggar's Opera," possibly Mrs. Edwards and Mrs. Wilmot (Lydia Webb). Mrs. Edwards as Macheath (right), in leg-irons and fashionably dressed, wearing a cocked hat and top-boots, the tight riding-dress showing a feminine figure with ample curves, stands with hands raised as if singing. Beside and behind him stands Lucy (Mrs. Wilmot), listening, with her hands on her hips. She is stout and middle-aged, a head taller than Macheath, and resembles Mrs. Peachum more than Lucy. Across the top of the design is etched "Motto for the Manager", and (on a scroll) "Reddere personae scit convenientia cuique" Hor. Cf. George.
Classification
Catalog link
Department