Temperance enjoying a frugal meal

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James Gillray
1756-1815
Temperance enjoying a frugal meal
hand colored etching
image: 36 x 28.5 cm; sheet: 37.3 x 29.2 cm
Peel 2793
Provenance: 
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Notes: 

Trimmed to within plate mark.
A companion print to Peel 2792 (BM 8112), "A voluptuary under the horrors of digestion."

Summary: 

King George III sits in an armchair in profile to the left, bending forward to eat a boiled egg, holding the egg-cup in his left hand. Opposite him, and partly concealed by the left margin, sits Queen Charlotte, avidly stuffing salad into her mouth. On the small round table are a bowl of salad and two jugs of oil and vinegar. Everything in the room denotes miserliness: the King has tucked the end of the table-cloth into his collar to protect his dress; his breeches are patched; his chair is swathed in protective coverings, his feet rest on a mat which protects the carpet.

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