The fashionable mamma - or - the convenience of modern dress, James Gillray

A fashionably dressed woman sits (left) in profile to the right, on an upright chair, while a carriage waits for her. Her loose dress, high to the neck, has two embroidered slits to reveal the breasts. A pretty, buxom nurse holds out an infant, who eagerly sucks the breast thus conveniently laid bare. She wears a turban with two erect feathers, and short sleeves. Her gloved right hand holds a closed fan. On the wall behind her is a large picture, 'Maternal Love.' A seated woman suckles an infant. Through a high sash-window is seen a corner of the waiting coach, a footman holding open the door, a fat coachman on the box. The coach, hammer-cloth, and the lady's chair are decorated with a baron's coronet. A patterned carpet covers the floor (BM). / This is an ingenious adaptation of fashion to convenience. This lady, who is said to have been a viscountess, then one of the chief leaders of the "beau monde," contrives to do the duties of a mother, although, as the carriage outside shows, on the point of starting for a route (Wright/Evans).

Courtesy of Boston Public Library

james gillray 1756 1815 prints and drawings boston public library arts department nobility clothing dress mothers breast feeding etchings caricatures satires visual works prints english james gillray 1756 1815 ultra high resolution high resolution 18th century political cartoons

1800 - 1900

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