Cymon & Iphigenia

Gillray's Cymon & Iphigenia is a travesty of a scene from a story by Boccaccio. The story was adapted by John Dryden in his Fables Ancient and Modern, and scenes from the story were painted by Rubens, Benjamin West, Angelica Kauffmann, and Sir Joshua Reynolds (among others). So Gillray had lots of potential sources. But Gillray's is easily the most radical departure from both the story and its representations by other artists.

The story (in Dryden's rhyming couplets) begins with a Cyprian Lord whose oldest son, Galesus, is a huge disappointment. Galesus is

a goodly youth to view
[Excelling] the rest in Shape, and outward Shew;
Fair, Tall, his Limbs with due Proportion join'd,
But of a heavy, dull, degenerate Mind.
His Soul bely'd the Features of his Face;
Beauty was there, but Beauty in disgrace.
A clownish Mien, a Voice with rustick sound,
And stupid Eyes, that ever lov'd the Ground.

After trying to amend Galesus's behavior in vain, the nobleman sends him into the country where he is renamed Cymon (meaning brute) and there confines him to "Rude Work well suted with a rustick Mind."

But one day while walking, quarterstaff in hand, through a secluded glade, Cymon comes upon a fountain to slake his thirst and there finds a sleeping maiden and her attendants, "Like Dian and her Nymphs."

Her Body shaded with a slight Cymarr;
Her Bosom to the view was only bare:
Where two beginning Paps were scarcely spy'd
For yet their Places were but signify'd. . .

The Fool of Nature, stood with stupid Eyes
And gaping Mouth, that testify'd Surprize,
Fix'd on her Face, nor cou'd remove his Sight,
New as he was to Love, and Novice in Delight:
Long mute he stood, and leaning on his Staff,
His Wonder witness'd with an Ideot laugh;
Then would have spoke, but by his glimmering Sense
First found his want of Words, and fear'd Offence:
Doubted for what he was he should be known,
By his Clown-Accent and his Country-Tone.

Thus begins the transformation of Cymon from bumpkin to paragon. After politely escorting the maid to her home, he returns to his father's house, demands a new suit of clothes and begins the process of educating himself to be a proper gentleman. There is much more to the story, as the course of love never runs smooth, but this is the key moment that artists from the Renaissance to the 19th century have typically chosen to portray.

Not surprisingly, in spite of the story's insistence on the youth of the maiden and the little that is exposed, most of Gillray's predecessors used the opportunity to display their skill in painting the nude. Reynolds is more or less typical. Iphigenia's luminous nude figure totally dominates the composition so that we became as much voyeurs as the scarcely noticeable Cymon.

Gillray departs from the story in almost every way. Cymon is by no means tall and fair but short and ugly. His expression is not so much of one of shocked surprise, but hideous leering. He is not leaning contemplatively on his staff as he gazes down upon Iphigenia, but seems to have dropped it, stepping towards Iphigenia with hands now conspicuously free as if he is about to grope her. On her side, Iphigenia is without attendants (nymphlike or otherwise). Indeed, she has none of the Diana-like qualities of the young maid in the poem. She is alone, obviously poor, matronly, and black. There is no attempt to impress or seduce the viewer as in Reynold's work. The overwhelming feeling is one of discomfort and disgust, made all the more striking as the grotesque figures are created with beautiful stippling usually reserved for fine art prints and set against a quiet verdant background.

The print is listed as having been etched or sculpted (sculpsit) by T. Adams, but this is generally believed to be an alias for Gillray. If so, Gillray used the same alias two weeks earlier for another experiment in the grotesque, My Poll and My Partner Joe.

Sources and Reading

• Commentary from the British Museum on Cymon & Iphigenia
• Draper Hill, Fashionable Contrasts, 1966, #85
• John Dryden, "Cymon & Iphigenia," The Poems of John Dryden
• Thomas Wright and R.H. Evans, Historical and Descriptive Account of the Caricatures of James Gillray #422

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.

First Name:	Last Name:
Email Address:
Comments/Corrections: