File:A Cognocenti contemplating ye Beauties of ye Antique (caricature) RMG PW3876.tiff
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Captions
Summary edit
Author |
H. Humphrey; James Gillray |
Description |
English: A Cognocenti contemplating ye Beauties of ye Antique (caricature) Print 'A Cognocenti contemplating ye Beauties of ye Antique (caricature)'. A complex and extremely pointed satire on Sir William Hamilton and his wife Emma’s notorious relationship with Nelson. Ostensibly adopting the long-established comic iconography of the old man cuckolded by a young wife, it represents Hamilton as the great classicist and antiquary scrutinizing his motley and bizarre collection of objects, but blind to their real significance: he even contemplates them the wrong way through his glasses. Everywhere they disclose his cuckoldry at the expense of Nelson and Emma. The bull Apis protects and points with his horns to two of the paintings on the wall, one of Emma as Cleopatra, bare-breasted and clutching a gin bottle, the other of Nelson as Mark Antony: these refer both to the great classical and Shakespearean love story and to Nelson’s Egyptian campaign, but also raise a question about Nelson in the comparison with Mark Antony, concerning his commitment to put his public duty before his private desires. In the next painting, above Hamilton’s head, Vesuvius erupts, a blunt sexual innuendo and also a reference to the Hamiltons’ home at Naples, site of classical antiquity. Finally, to the right is a portrait of Hamilton as the Roman emperor Claudius, deceived by his young wife Messalina: it is in a frame surmounted by stag’s or cuckold’s horns. Similarly, the objects ranged around the room allude in various ways to the same subject. The bust of Lais, a celebrated Greek courtesan, again takes the form of Emma, but minus her nose, possibly a reference to the effects of venereal disease, and the headless statue of a Bacchante to the left assumes the pose of one of Emma’s ‘Attitudes’. On the far right, below the picture of Claudius, is a full-length statue of Midas, but with ass’s ears: clearly a symbol for Hamilton himself, signifying that his ability to turn objects into gold will not stop him being a fool. Beneath this barbed visual commentary is a larger moral point, to do with the relationship of public to private life, the value of learning, and the diversion of military leaders such as Nelson from performing their duty to the nation at time of war. |
Date | Published 11 Februrary 1801 |
Dimensions | Primary support: 370 mm x 263 mm; Mount: 560 mm x 406 mm |
Notes | Box Title: Caricatures 7. Nelson, General. |
Source/Photographer | http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/128011 |
Permission (Reusing this file) |
The original artefact or artwork has been assessed as public domain by age, and faithful reproductions of the two dimensional work are also public domain. No permission is required for reuse for any purpose. The text of this image record has been derived from the Royal Museums Greenwich catalogue and image metadata. Individual data and facts such as date, author and title are not copyrightable, but reuse of longer descriptive text from the catalogue may not be considered fair use. Reuse of the text must be attributed to the "National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London" and a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-SA-3.0 license may apply if not rewritten. Refer to Royal Museums Greenwich copyright. |
Identifier InfoField | Unidentified Prints & Drawings Number: 19 Unidentified Prints & Drawings Number: 490 Unidentified Prints & Drawings Number: 745 id number: PAF3876 |
Collection InfoField | Fine art |
Licensing edit
This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason:
The official position taken by the Wikimedia Foundation is that "faithful reproductions of two-dimensional public domain works of art are public domain".
This photographic reproduction is therefore also considered to be in the public domain in the United States. In other jurisdictions, re-use of this content may be restricted; see Reuse of PD-Art photographs for details. |
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current | 15:11, 26 September 2017 | 2,850 × 3,800 (30.99 MB) | Fæ (talk | contribs) | Royal Museums Greenwich Fine art (1801), http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/128011 #3482 |
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Width | 2,850 px |
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Height | 3,800 px |
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Pixel composition | RGB |
Image data location | 140 |
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Data arrangement | chunky format |