Art Institute of Chicago

A Sunday Concert

James Bretherton (English, active 1770-1781)

Date

n.d.

Medium

Etching and aquatint in brown on cream laid paper

Culture

England

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

This satirical etching of a private London musical gathering exaggerates to great effect the aristocratic English enthusiasm for foreign musicians. Nearly all of these figures are identifiable portraits, particularly the larger-than-life woman to the left of the piano. She is Lady Mary Duncan, who idolized the Italian mezzosoprano castrato Gaspare Pacchierotti (seen standing just behind the piano) to the point of extreme rudeness toward other musicians. The satirist Isaac Cruikshank would poke fun at her emotional attachment to the singer in another print a decade later.

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