Rowlandson the Caricaturist; a Selection from His Works. Vol. 2Grego, Joseph
History
Rowlandson the Caricaturist; a Selection from His Works. Vol. 2
Grego, Joseph
English wit and humor, Pictorial; Rowlandson, Thomas, 1756-1827
_February 26, 1811._ _A French Dentist Showing a Specimen of his
Artificial Teeth and False Palates._ Published by T. Tegg (58).--It
is not easy to determine whether this caricature was intended solely
as a satire or as an advertisement for some dental professor who was
established here at the time. In Rowlandson's day, however, false
teeth were sufficient novelties to be welcome subjects for ridicule.
An overgrown and exuberantly corpulent female is serving as a sample
of the Frenchman's skill; her widely distended mouth is liberally
displaying a wonderful set of masticators. The professor is the typical
foreigner of the period, wearing hair-powder, a bag-wig, and earrings.
An old beau, looking through a quizzing-glass, is admiring the prospect
of securing a decent set of teeth, his own gums exhibiting a very
ragged and defective regiment. An advertisement in the rear sets forth:
'_Mineral Teeth._--Monsieur De Charmant, from Paris, engages to affix
from one tooth to a whole set, without pain. Monsieur D. can also affix
an artificial palate or a glass eye in a manner peculiar to himself; he
also distils, &c., &c.'
_March, 1811._ _Bacon-faced Fellows of Brazen-Nose Broke Loose._
Published by T. Tegg (59).--The persons of learned members of the
Universities were not treated with a sparing hand by the satirist.
Rowlandson has introduced various incidents of college life into his
caricatures; but, throughout the series, the waggishly-inclined artist
does not, we are afraid, exhibit any particular respect for _Alma
Mater_. The Fellows of Brasenose are drawn, with unusual unction,
issuing from their Hall and through the archways of the Colleges,
dressed in their academic guise, and pouring forth like a sable stream
of erudition. The various expressions and attitudes of the 'big-wigs'
are vastly well hit off; their diversified peculiarities of face or
motion are full of comicality. These grave sons of the Church are
not free from gallant considerations--a buxom wench, with a basket
of fruit slung round her shapely neck, is the centre of attraction;
the 'Bacon-faced Fellows' are crowded around, bargaining for her ware
and leering at the seller with undisguised and clumsy admiration. A
reflection is cast on the _Vice_-Chancellor, who is vainly endeavouring
to steal into his apartments without being detected by the rest of the
sly grinning Fellows, with a weighty folio under his arm, and followed
by an engaging young fruiteress, a lump of rustic innocence, bearing
her baskets, for better selection from the contents, to the seclusion
of the Vice's study.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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