Love and Nature Do Not Know These Distances
William Johnson
19th century
Medium
Lithograph in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
26.2 × 34.6 cm (10 3/8 × 13 5/8 in.)
Classification
lithograph
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
40014
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
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 fi...