A Corner Near the Bank

According to the description by Thomas McLean in his 1830 edition of The Genuine Works of James Gillray, Engraved by Himself, quoted by Dorothy George in her Curator's Comments, this caricature is a satirical portrait of "Old P------', a clerk at the Bank of England who was a notorious debauchee." As in the case of most portrait caricatures, then, one audience for the print is the knowing few for whom the likeness and the stated location ("near the Bank") would have beeen sufficient (as it was for McLean) to identify the old lecher.

But, of course, as the subtitle suggests, the print is more than a portrait of an individual; it is also "An Example," specifically (but ambiguously) "for Fathers." Is this a warning to old men to beware the wiles of some young women or a warning to fathers to keep a close watch on their daughters?

Visually, the print is divided into two parts, one third of which is devoted to the old man (the father) and the other two thirds occupied by two prostitutes (someone's fallen daughters). The boundary between them is created by the "corner" of the building. Both parties are engaged in a kind of sexual chess. The pose of the old man, with a set of "Modest" (i.e. pornographic) prints in his pocket, suggests that he is considering his next move. Should he turn the corner and engage with the prostitutes? Or be content with what satisfaction he can get from the prints he has? The seemingly sweet faced women, on the other hand, are working together to lure the old man to a location where they can profit from his interest, either by charging him for services rendered, or by robbing him of any valuables he might be carrying. Or both. One of them lifts her dress to show a strategic bit of leg with a perhaps symbolic tear in her stocking. The other looks back to gauge the old man's reaction.

To fully appreciate what Gillray is doing here, one need only contrast A Corner Near the Bank with any of the many dozens of prints by Rowlandson featuring old men gazing at and/or lusting after young women either in the flesh such as Gratification of the Senses, and even more explicitly in The Examination (1800), or at one remove in prints and paintings such as we see in Connoiseurs (1799). In Rowlandson, there is no doubt about the expressions of the men and their focus of interest. And there is no subtlety about what the women can offer. Everything is exposed and exaggerated, especially in Rowlandson's erotica, even to the point of becoming grotesque. By contrast, Gillray's print is both discrete and subtle revealing the wordless negotiation of sex between the parties.

Sources and Reading

• Commentary from the British Museum on A Corner Near the Bank.
• Draper Hill, The Satirical Etchings of James Gillray, 1976, #53.
• Vic Gatrell, City of Laughter, New York, 2006.
• Thomas Wright and R.H. Evans, Historical and Descriptive Account of the Caricatures of James Gillray #428.