‘Fleabottomi’, 1798

Description

Mounted hand coloured etching entitled ‘Fleabottomi’, designed by the artist George Moutard Woodward, possibly etched by Isaac Cruikshank, and published by Samuel William Fores in 1798.

‘Fleabottomi’ features a full length portrait of a quack doctor, with a particularly vacant expression on his face, who claims to be “… the reale Doctor Bolus …”. His left arm is outstretched holding out a lancet. In his right hand he holds a cane. He wears a long coat fastened by one button and has an unkempt powdered wig under a cocked hat.

He declares: “I the reale Doctor Bolus from Kork, aving studid Fleabottomi, undertaks to opan vanes with hease and safty to the pashunt, I also Kups and dras Tith withote braking the Ja bon. NB__ savaral hold Lancitts__and Saccond-and Tith, to be disposs’d off at prim Kost,.”