‘Doctor Gallipot Placing his Fortune at the Feet of his Mistress, Thro’ Physic to the Dogs’ 1808

Description

Mounted hand coloured etching and aquatint, entitled ‘DOCTOR GALLIPOT placing his Fortune at the feet of his Mistress, Thro’ Physic to the Dogs’, one of a set of copies of watercolours designed by Thomas Rowlandson, etched by anon, and published by Reeve and Jones in 1808. ‘

This caricature depicts an unattractive, foppish apothecary with ‘grog-blossomed’ profile, kneeling at the feet of an attractive young woman. He has one hand on his breast, with the other he points to a cloth at his feet on which are spread syringe and bag clysters, a spatula knife, a pestle and mortar, and a large bottle labelled ‘Elixir of Life DROPS’.

She stands in some confusion and alarm, while behind an open door a highly amused man observes the scene.