A Voluptuary under the Horrors of Digestion

Along with Temperance Enjoying a Frugal Meal, this print is one of paired set of prints that appeared in July of 1792 portraying the stark contrast between the frugality, even miserliness of the royal parents, King George and Queen Charlotte, and the reckless expense and luxuriousness of their profligate son, the Prince of Wales. It is also a prime example of Gillray in 1792 now channeling all his skill and energy into creating satiric caricatures that were simply head and shoulders above prints by anyone else in the field.

Gillray puts the Prince's bloated belly in the very center of the print, and then provides further visual echoes of it in the circular design of the carpet, the circular portrait on the wall, and the circular crest next to it. If the famous portrait of Sarah Siddons by Gainsborough is all nose, Gillray's portrait of the Prince of Whales (as he was sometimes called) is all belly. For this is a print about a grotesque appetite—for food, for drink, for sex, and for gambling.

A Voluptuary under the Horrors of Digestion. Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum.

A Voluptuary under the Horrors of Digestion [1792]
© Trustees of the British Museum

The Prince is shown seated in a position that not only emphasizes his huge stomach but also recalls two famous profligates, Tom Rakewell from Hogarth's Rake's Progress and the new Earl Squanderfield from Marriage a la Mode. Next to him on the table are the bones of substantial pieces of meat, all but one picked clean by the royal gourmand. Behind the plate of meat are decanters of Port and Brandy, both more than half empty, and a golden castor of chian, a wine that Horace associates with lavish and sumptuous parties. Below the table are more empty bottles. A parody of the princely crest appears on the wall once again suggesting his obsession with food and drink.

On the floor in front of the Prince are the evidences of his appetite for gambling. In addition to a pair of dice, there are books labeled Debts of Honor Unpaid, Newmarket Lists, and a "Faro Partnership Account with Self, Archer, Hobart & Co." The prince was an avid gambler and ran up the present day equivalent of millions of pounds of debt. He had a stable of race horses and in 1790 was suspected of ordering his jockey to throw a race on one day in order to better the odds for a winning run the following day. It is unlikely that he had an actual share of the profits from the Faro Tables run by his friends, Lady Sarah Archer and Lady Albinia Hobart, but there is no doubt that he was a frequent gambler at them.

On a table behind the Prince is a veritable pharmacy of pills, drops, and syrups to address the effects of his excesses. These include English and continental remedies for venereal disease, as well as recommended treatments "For the Piles", probably the result of his obesity, and "Drops for a stinking breath."

Below the table and providing a final visual echo of both the prince's belly and his arm is a chamberpot overflowing with bills and excrement, a succinct and fitting summation of this rake's progress.

Sources and Reading

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: