Curator

  • Art Institute Chicago
  • Harvard art museum
  • My Exhibition
A work made of lithograph in black on ivory laid paper.

Love and Nature Do Not Know These Distances

19th century

Unknown French artist after William Johnson (English, 18th-19th century)

France

Here Caroline of Brunswick, briefly the estranged queen to George IV of England, was scathingly caricatured for her supposed affair with her much taller Italian manservant, Bartolomeo Pergami. Similar prints by George Cruikshank, among other artists, harped on how physically unnatural the pairing was, but social inequality was always the real issue. Lord Byron was among those who argued publicly that her close relationship with Pergami was adulterous, but the ensuing trial failed to provide a firm answer to the question.

Lithograph in black on ivory laid paper

Prints and Drawings