The Stays, plate one from Progress of the Toilet
published February 26, 1810
Medium
Hand-colored etching on cream wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 25.7 × 21.5 cm (10 1/8 × 8 1/2 in.); Plate: 28 × 22.3 cm (11 1/16 × 8 13/16 in.); Sheet: 30 × 25.5 cm (11 13/16 × 10 1/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
61493
Art Historical Context
Step into the witty world of Regency satire with *The Stays*, plate one James Gillray's *Progress of the Toilet* series, on February 26,1810. This hand-colored etching on cream wove paper (image 25.7 × 21.5 cm) captures the exaggerated rituals of women's dressing routines, zeroing in on the corset-like "stays" that defined the era's silhouette. Gillray, a British caricaturist, used his sharp eye to lampoon the absurdities of high fashion, turning everyday vanity into visual comedy. As a leading figure in 18th- and early 19th-century printmaking, Gillray belonged to the caricature tradition th...