File:The bridal-night. (BM 1851,0901.867).jpg

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The bridal-night.   (Wikidata search (Cirrus search) Wikidata query (SPARQL)  Create new Wikidata item based on this file)
Artist

Print made by: James Gillray

Published by: Hannah Humphrey
Title
The bridal-night.
Description
English: An elaborate design. The Prince of Würtemberg, grotesquely corpulent, conducts his bride in the procession (right to left) towards the bridal chamber which is led by the King and Queen. George III, plainly dressed and wearing a hat, partly concealed by a pillar, hurries forward; in each hand is a candle-stick holding a guttering candle-end (cf. BMSat 8117). The Queen, covered with jewels and her face hidden by a poke-bonnet, carries a steaming bowl of 'Posset'. On the back of the Prince's coat are slung five ribbons from which dangle the jewels of orders; three garters encircle his leg; a star decorates the bag of his wig. The Princess gazes at him from behind her fan. Round her waist is the ribbon of an order, to which is attached a jewel containing a whole length miniature of her husband, which exaggerates his corpulence. Behind the Princess is a group of princes: the Prince of Wales, in regimentals, is fat and sulky. Prince William of Gloucester stands with splayed-out feet as in BMSat 8716. The Duke of Clarence (caricatured) puts a hand on the right arm of the Prince of Wales. Behind is the more handsome head of the Duke of York. These four heads are clever juxtapositions of variations on the family features. Behind them is the grotesque profile of the Stadholder with closed eyes. The sharp features of Lady Derby tower above the Stadholder. Next him is the Princess of Wales, not caricatured. Two princesses hold up their sister's train, and, behind, a sea of feathered headdresses recedes in perspective under a lighted chandelier.


Salisbury (left), the Lord Chamberlain, standing stiffly in profile to the right, much caricatured, with wand and key as in BMSat 8649, holds open the door through which the King is about to pass. Pitt, on the outskirts of the procession, carries a sack inscribed '£80,000' (the amount of the Princess's dowry). On the wall is a large picture, inscribed 'Le Triomphe de l'Amour', of an elephant with a little cupid sitting on his neck blowing a trumpet. 18 May 1797


Hand-coloured etching with aquatint
Depicted people Associated with: Princess Augusta Sophia
Date 1797
date QS:P571,+1797-00-00T00:00:00Z/9
Medium paper
Dimensions
Height: 306 millimetres (cropped)
Width: 454 millimetres (cropped)
institution QS:P195,Q6373
Current location
Prints and Drawings
Accession number
1851,0901.867
Notes

(Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VII, 1942) The marriage at St. James's on 17 May was followed by a drawing-room, after which the royal party drove to Windsor Lodge to dine. See BMSats 8827, 9006, 9007, 9015. Grego, 'Gillray', p. 224 (reproduction). Wright and Evans, No. 170. Reprinted, 'G.W.G.', 1830. Reproduced, Fuchs, p. 257; Ashbee, p. 69.

Two figures in this plate have been copied by Rowlandson, in a watercolour in the Print Room, with the addition of a third copied from BMSat 8827. The Prince, as in BMSat 8827, stands in profile to the right, smiling. Behind him stands Salisbury, as above, his hand on an invisible door. Facing him is Prince William of Gloucester, as above, but with an angry, instead of an impassive, expression. On the back is a sketch of part of BMSat 8328, also by Gillray. Binyon, iii. 250, No. 18.
Source/Photographer https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1851-0901-867
Permission
(Reusing this file)		 © The Trustees of the British Museum, released as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

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current09:58, 13 May 2020Thumbnail for version as of 09:58, 13 May 20201,600 × 1,121 (477 KB)Copyfraud (talk | contribs)British Museum public domain uploads (Copyfraud/BM) Satirical prints in the British Museum 1797 #6,682/12,043

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