Gillray06 ~ 'Dido in Dispair' ~ Published by Hannah Humphrey: February 6, 1801 ~ Hand colored Etching ~ Gillray's works are almost always politically incorrect and his images provoke responses of simultaneous appeal and disgust in viewers. In this illustration, Gillray satirizes a scandalous relationship between Admiral Nelson and Emma Hamilton. After being wounded during the Battle of the Nile at Akourbir Bay, Nelson recuperated at length in the home of Sir William Hamilton in Naples, Italy. When Nelson departed Naples to resume command of the Channel Fleet in 1801, Emma, Lady Hamilton, was seven months pregnant with Nelson's child. Here, Gillray casts Nelson and Lady Hamilton in the roles of Dido and Aeneas, the central love interests of a classical Roman poem, the Aeneid. In it, Aeneas abandons Dido in Carthage in order to found Rome. Gillray plays on the parallels to the poem and pictures Emma Hamilton as excessively fat and in despair. As the British fleet sails away, she voices her sentiments: "Ah, where, & ah where , is my gallant Sailor gone? - He's gone to Fight the Frenchmen, for George upon the Throne, He's gone to Fight ye Frenchmen, t'loose t'other Arm & Eye, And left me with the old Antiques, to lay me down, & cry."
The last line refers to Emma's aged husband asleep in the bed beside her. Gillray illustrates a group of suggestive objects on the table, floor and settee in reference to the sexual improprieties of her and Nelson's relationship.

Framed 18 1/2 inches x 22 1/2 inches ~ SOLD