Venus Attired by the Graces
This print, designed by J.C. Esqr. and etched by Gillray, is a broad parody of the popular classical subject of Venus attired by the Graces, exemplified in a version (below) by Giovanni Cipriani and Francesco Bartolozzi. Both were teachers and members of the Royal Society of Artists while Gillray was a student. The joke in the caricature version is, of course, the huge discrepancy between the high-art title and reference and the low-art portrayal.
© Trustees of the British Museum
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Venus Attired by the Graces
[May 1, 1785]
© Trustees of the British Museum
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Instead of the sinuous beauty of Cipriani's goddess of love, semi-nude, with flowing classical drapery, surrounded by attendants, also beautiful and also semi-clothed, portrayed in a variety of exquisite classical poses, we have the complete opposite. The caricature Venus is short, stocky, incredibly homely, with splayed legs that don't reach the ground, and ungartered stockings falling down upon her heavy shoes. The "Graces" attending this Venus are even shorter and more ugly than she, fully clothed in rude country fashion, and in one case possibly filching a pitcher of spirits from her mistress. And instead of the vaguely classical background with column and drapery and a pad for Venus' feet, we have an unadorned wall, a plain wood floor, and the all-too-common implements of fashion: a pair of combs, a couple of garters, a hair-curler, a pin cushion, and a fan. One of the garters contains the words: "Set Your Thoughts on Things Above," which provides a pointed satiric commentary on this fruitless exercise in vanity.
Sources and Reading
- Commentary from the British Museum on Venus Attired by the Graces.
- "Giovanni Battista Cipriani," Wikipedia
- "Francesco Bartolozzi," Wikipedia
- "Charites," Wikipedia
- Thomas Wright and R.H. Evans, Historical and Descriptive Account of the Caricatures of James Gillray #496
- Thomas Wright and Joseph Grego, The Works of James Gillray, the Caricaturist; With the History of His Life and Times p. 272.
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