The Gig Shop or Kicking Up a Breeze at Nell Hammiltons Hop
Thomas Rowlandson British
Publisher Thomas Tegg British
Not on view
Joseph Grego, Rowlandson's early cataloguer, describes this impromptu boxing in "a place of 'fast' resort, [where] dancing has given way to much rougher diversions...[with] the place appropriated for the dance...given up to a "mill" conducted on strikingly professional principles. One of the combatants has "peeled" in recognized style, and his opponent has stripped to his shirt; the backers and seconders of the fisticuffing bucks...are members of the fair sex...A ring of delighted spectators are enjoying the fight and the fun from the benches, while other gentlemen are prudently engaged in restraining their fair partners from getting mixed up in the squabble."
The term gig in the title refers to something that whirls–dancers and boxers–and "mill" is slang for bare-knuckle boxing. Nell Hammilton may be Elizabeth, Duchess of Hamilton, wife of the 8th Duke, who had promoted boxing. The couple's marriage was notorious for its many affairs and a country dance of the period was named "Hamilton House" because it involved so many changes of partner.
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