Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Female curiosity

Image not available
James Gillray
1756-1815

Female curiosity

[London] : Publish'd Decr. 1st. 1778, by W. Humphrey, [1778]
etching, hand colored
image: 314 x 243 mm; trimmed sheet: 360 x 255 mm
Bequest of Gordon N. Ray, 1987.
1986.237
Notes
By James Gillray.
Provenance

From the library of Gordon N. Ray.

Summary

Print shows a woman in her bedchamber with her maidservant; the woman, with her nightdress hiked up above her waist, kneeling on the bed on one knee while adjusting an enormous wig over her bare buttocks; the maidservant holds a mirror showing the woman's backside view for her to admire. On a table in the background is a bust, combs, and a brush for the wig; in the foreground, a cat with arched back hisses at the reflection in the mirror and a dog investigates the woman's corset lying on the floor.

Associated names
Humphrey, William, ca. 1740-ca. 1810, publisher.
Ray, Gordon Norton, 1915-1986, former owner.
Classification
Department
Century prints