Lady Hamilton as the Comic Muse, Thalia (1791, Met-Objekt 6074)
Original title: Lady Hamilton as the Comic Muse, Thalia
kurzbeschreibung
Lady Hamilton appears here as Thalia, the muse of comedy: an elegant costume, a mask held in one hand. Raphael Morghen made the engraving in 1791; this impression is the second of two states. Portrait and allegorical staging merge on a single sheet.
Description
A woman in pale, flowing drapery draws the eye at once, her gown gathered by a belt with a medallion ornament. Her right hand holds a mask wreathed in leaves, and she looks straight out at the viewer. Curly hair falls over her shoulders, while a dark curtain is suggested behind her. Latin text, presumably a dedication, runs along the lower edge. The arrangement is balanced and near-symmetrical, the linework crisp and finely detailed.
Context
Lady Hamilton, later Admiral Nelson's mistress, was famous in the 1790s for her "Attitudes", tableaux vivants drawn from myth and history. Morghen engraved the plate after a painting by Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, made during her stay in Naples. Idealized portraits of women in antique dress suited the taste of the day, and casting the sitter as Thalia follows that pattern. The print circulated widely and spread the fame of Lady Hamilton's staged beauty.
Impact
Her direct gaze and frontal pose make the figure feel immediately present, yet the allegorical elevation lifts her into an idealized sphere. Calm and poise govern the design, and the clear linework reinforces that impression. The sheet reads as a representative portrait of its era, classical in bearing.
Technique
In engraving, lines are cut into the copper plate and then transferred to paper with printing ink. The second state likely carries reworking or additions made after the first. This method allows details such as folds of cloth and single strands of hair to be reproduced with precision.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)