Lady Godina's Rout:–or– Peeping-Tom spying out Pope Joan, vide Fashionable Modesty
James Gillray British
Publisher Hannah Humphrey British
Not on view
Gillray uses evening card-playing to satirize contemporary women's fashion in this print. Seated around a table, four people play the game Pope-Joan with the focus placed on a pretty young woman who wears huge feathers in her turban and a loose semi-transparent gown that almost exposes her breasts. Her outfit has attracted a servant who trims a candle to gain a good view. She has been identified as Lady Georgiana Gordon, later Duchess of Bedford, while the stout lady seen from the back is probably Albinia Hobart, Countess of Buckinghamshire, and the elderly man the Reverend John Sneyd. An additional layer of humor hinges on knowing the game Pope Joan, where the 9 of diamonds is a trump card (also called a universal stop), held up here by the seated lady who has stopped the servant in his tracks. Her semi-nudity, combined with the name Godina in the title, also evokes the medieval figure of Lady Godiva.
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