Le Cochon et ses Deux Petits
The Duke of Norfolk, identified by the Earl Marshal's baton at his feet and the ever present glass of port in his hand, sits on the laps of two prostitutes from "Strand Lane, Temple Barr, etc."
Charles Howard, the 11th Duke of Norfolk was, in many ways, a caricaturist's dream. A man of tremendous appetites according to all accounts, he was a legendary consumer of British beef, and, on one occasion, is supposed to have consumed "fifteen huge steaks at a single sitting." In an age of heavy drinkers, he "had an astonishing capacity for alcohol and was said to be capable of drinking five or six times more than any normal person." And then there was his apppetite for sex, which was no less huge. Contemporaries, as Vic Gattrell notes, describe him as having "amours without delicacy and without number," often sleeping in the streets at the end of a long night of drinking and sex. To top it off, he had more than the usual 18th century aversion to soap and water and neglected both his clothes and his person. So when he succumbed to a drunken stupor while at home, his servants would take the opportunity to change and bathe him while he was unconscious.
© Trustees of the British Museum
){kind=link}
With an embarrassment of satiric riches such as the Duke presented, Gillray could have gone in a number of different directions. The title (which can be translated "The Pig and His Two Little Ones"), the superscript which emphasizes and even exaggerates the sideshow proportions of the women, and the visible evidence of the three overstuffed figures themselves—all contribute to the caricatured nature of the print. But they also serve as a metaphor for the outsized appetites of the Duke. And positioned as he is between two prostitutes with his legs splayed and his crotch centered, the Duke's primary appetite in this print would seem to be sexual.
The design of the print consists of triangles within triangles. The outer triangle is formed by the mass of the two prostitutes leaning in towards the Duke. The next triangle is formed by the Duke himself with his two legs forming the base and his head the point. That triangle is further emphasized by the Duke's jacket wide open at the bottom and tapering towards his neck. The innermost triangle is formed by his white shirt visible beneath his vest pointing upward from his crotch, a symbol no doubt of what lies beneath.
Sources and Reading
- Commentary from the British Museum on Le Cochon et ses Deux Petits.
- Draper Hill, Fashionable Contrasts, 1966
- Draper Hill, The Satirical Etchings of James Gillray, 1976, #27
- "Charles Howard, 11th Duke of Norfolk," Wikisource
- Karl Shaw, Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know: The Extraordinary Exploits of the British
- Thomas Wright and R.H. Evans, Historical and Descriptive Account of the Caricatures of James Gillray #391
- Thomas Wright and Joseph Grego, The Works of James Gillray, the Caricaturist; With the History of His Life and Times p. 159-160.
Comments & Corrections
NOTE: Comments and/or corrections are always appreciated. To make that easier, I have included a form below that you can use. I promise never to share any of the info provided without your express permission.