Restoration dresses
[London] : Pub. Aprill [sic] 22, 1789, by S.W. Fores, No. 3 Piccadilly, [22 April 1789]
Printmaker from British Museum catalogue.
Sheet trimmed within plate mark.
Imprint continued in lower right corner: "Whare [sic] may be had the Death ['Death' crossed out and replaced with] Funeral Prosession of Miss Regency & the prosession of the Train ['of the Train' crossed out and replaced with] to St. Pauls."
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Print shows four ladies, fashionably dressed, with elaborate head-dresses decorated with loyal mottoes, standing in a row. One (left) in profile to the right wears a broad-brimmed hat with a high cylindrical crown and a brim with a curtain of lace, trimmed with feathers and ribbons inscribed 'Save the King', 'Live the [King]', and 'Regoice' [sic]. On a bracelet are the letters 'G.R', and on the ends of a ribbon sash medallions inscribed 'The King Restor[ed]' and 'Live the King'. She resembles Lady Archer, one of the Prince's set. Next is a lady in back view; a large bow in her hat is inscribed 'Long Live the King G.R.'; her hair is tied with a 'G.R' ribbon. The next lady, full-face, appears to be in court dress; across the front of her coiffure with its feathers and flowers is a broad ribbon: 'The King Restored'; she holds a fan on which is a profile portrait of the King. The last, similarly dressed, in profile to the left, wears a tower-like erection on her head round which is a spiral ribbon inscribed 'God Save the King', on her sleeve is a band inscribed 'G.R.' Cf. George.
Peel, Robert, 1788-1850 former owner.