Sir Richard Worse-Than-Sly Exposing His Wife's Bottom. . .
This is the second of two prints resulting from the salacious crim con trial of Sir Richard and Lady Worsley and Lady Worsley's lover, Captain George Bissett. Both prints bear the same title and the same publication date of March 14th, 1782. One lists as its publisher: H. Brown, Oxford Market. But I have not found any other prints by that publisher in this time period. The other, with the basic image reversed, a stronger line, and several additional changes, was published by William Humphrey. Unlike the version supposedly published by Brown, this one was available both plain and colored. For the background of the trial and explanation of the print, see the previous commentary in my catalogue).
© National Portrait Gallery, London
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Apart from reversing the image of Lady Worsley and the bath maid, the most obvious difference between the two versions is the positions of Sir Richard and Captain Bissett. In the Brown print, Bissett is standing upon the back of Sir Richard who squats with his hat on facing away from the wall. In the Humphrey print, Bissett sits upon the shoulders of a now hatless Sir Richard who faces the wall and appears to be standing on tip-toe to raise Bissett as high as he can. The speech bubble coming from Sir Richard's mouth in the Brown print is moved to a paper scroll which, along with his hat, is now positioned at Sir Richard's feet. In the Brown print, Bissett's intruding head and shoulder appear well within the space of Lady Worsley's bath; in the Humphrey print, not so much.
Within the walls of the bath, there are a couple of minor changes. To balance the circular pool at the bottom of the print, Gillray has added what appears to be a dome at the top, and another decorative circle in the ceiling. But perhaps the most interesting change is the addition of Lady Worsley's slippers. For though he has strengthened the border around the central image in this version, Gillray positions Lady Worsley's slippers as if they were ready to walk out of restraining frame of the picture itself and into the open, wall-free space before us. In a print that is largely about transgressions, this seemingly trivial detail is just one more violation of convention waiting to happen.
NOTE: I'm assuming that the Humphrey version was created on a second plate based on a tracing of parts of the Brown print. It would have been easier to add the rather significant changes he was making in the figures of Sir Richard and Captain Bissett to a new plate rather than scraping away and redoing the figures on the original one. But why Gillray would have thought any of this necessary is a mystery (to me at least).
Sources and Reading
- Commentary from the British Museum on Sir Richard Worse-Than-Sly Exposing His Wife's Bottom
- The Trial...between The Right. Hon. Sir Richard Worsley...and George Maurice Bisset...
- Hallie Rubenhold, The Lady in Red, 2008
- "Seymour Fleming," Wikipedia
- "Sir Richard Worsley, 7th Baronet," Wikipedia
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