Details
Creator Summers, William, artist.
Contributor Isaacs, Harrison, publisher.
Title Life in Philadelphia. "Dat is bery fine, Mr. Mortimer..." [graphic] / C. Hunt, Sc.
Publisher London: Pub. by Harrison Isaacs, Charles St. Soho Sqre
Publisher ENG. London. 1831
Date [ca. 1831]
Physical Description 1 print: aquatint; sheet 39 x 28 cm (15.25 x 11 in.)
Description Racist caricature of an African American couple singing and playing guitar in a parlor. In the right, "Mr Mortimer," stands with his right hand over his heart and with his other holding a sheet of music. He wears mutton chops and is attired in a blue coat with tails, white bow tie, black pants, black stockings, black slipper shoes, and white gloves. His eyes look up and his mouth is open. He sings a love song while the woman seated in the left plays a guitar decorated with pink ribbons. Her head is turned toward the man and she sits on a bench with a pink cushion. She wears a large white bonnet adorned with pink bows and with ribbons tied into a bow under her chin. She is also attired in a yellow dress with long puff sleeves, blue trim, and a laced bodice, blue ankle-tied slipper shoes, as well as rings on her fingers. She comments that he sings "con a moor as de Italians say!!" The figures are portrayed with oversized and exaggerated features. Their skin tone is depicted with black hand coloring. Setting of scene also includes a carpet with a decorative pattern and framed portraits of an African American man and woman hanging on the wall behind the couple.
Notes Title from item.
Date inferred from content and name of publisher.
After the work of Edward W. Clay.
Attributed to William Summers.
Plate 12 of the original series published in Philadelphia.
Contains eight lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect below the image: Dat is bery fine, Mr. Mortimer, _ you sing quite con a moor, as de Italians say!! “Take away, take away dos rosy lips, “Rich, rich in balmy treasure!_”Turn away, turn away dose eyes o blub, “Less I die wid pleasure!!!”
Inscribed: Plate 2.
Charles Hunt was a respected 19th-century London engraver and etcher known mostly for his prints of sporting subjects.
Copy published in Philadelphia described in Daily Chronicle, December 10, 1829, p. 2.
RVCDC
Description revised 2021.
Access points revised 2021.
Subject African Americans -- Caricatures and cartoons -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
African Americans -- Songs and music.
African American women -- Caricatures and cartoons -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
African American men -- Caricatures and cartoons -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
African American women -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
African Americans -- Clothing & dress -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
Conversation.
Middle-class -- Clothing & dress -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
Parlors -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
Racism in popular culture.
Genre Caricatures -- 1830-1840.
Aquatints -- 1830-1840.
Printer Isaacs, Harrison, publisher.
Location Library Company of Philadelphia| Print Department| Life in Philadelphia (London Set) [P.9705.1]
Accession number P.9705.1