Mr. Grimaldi as Clown
Print
8 February 1811 (published)
8 February 1811 (published)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Harlequin and Asmodeus, or, Cupid on Crutches, opened at the Theatre Royal Covent Garden on Boxing Day, Wednesday 26 December 1810, as an afterpiece to Ben Jonson's play Every Man in his Humour. This engraving depicts the clown Joseph Grimaldi (1778-1837) engaged in a boxing match with a man made of vegetables. Grimaldi wields giant turnips and faces an opponent who has a pumpkin head topped with a sprig of celery, a cabbage body, carrot arms and fingers, beet legs and mushroom feet.
Grimaldi was becoming well known about this time for constructing comic grotesque characters from found objects, and one of the earliest instances of this was in Harlequin in his Element, or, Fire, Water, Earth and Air, Covent Garden, 29 December 1807, when he made a figure from a fresh salmon, a pair of gloves, a hatbox, and the hat of the constable sent to arrest him. In Harlequin Padmanaba, or, the Golden Fish, 26 December 1811, he made a child's bassinet with four wheels of cheese hitched to a team of springer spaniels.
After the publication of Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein in 1818, Grimaldi was sometimes jokingly called Joe Frankenstein, in celebration of his ability to bring monsters to life. When Grimaldi finally retired retired from the stage in 1828, the poet Thomas Hood wrote a tribute which included the lines:
For who like thee could ever stride!
Some dozen paces to the mile! --
The motley, medley coach provide --
Or like Joe Frankenstein compile
The vegetable man complete! --
A proper Covent Garden feat!
Grimaldi was becoming well known about this time for constructing comic grotesque characters from found objects, and one of the earliest instances of this was in Harlequin in his Element, or, Fire, Water, Earth and Air, Covent Garden, 29 December 1807, when he made a figure from a fresh salmon, a pair of gloves, a hatbox, and the hat of the constable sent to arrest him. In Harlequin Padmanaba, or, the Golden Fish, 26 December 1811, he made a child's bassinet with four wheels of cheese hitched to a team of springer spaniels.
After the publication of Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein in 1818, Grimaldi was sometimes jokingly called Joe Frankenstein, in celebration of his ability to bring monsters to life. When Grimaldi finally retired retired from the stage in 1828, the poet Thomas Hood wrote a tribute which included the lines:
For who like thee could ever stride!
Some dozen paces to the mile! --
The motley, medley coach provide --
Or like Joe Frankenstein compile
The vegetable man complete! --
A proper Covent Garden feat!
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Mr. Grimaldi as Clown (assigned by artist) |
| Materials and techniques | Hand-coloured etching |
| Brief description | Joseph Grimaldi (1778-1837) as Clown in Harlequin & Asmodeus, or, Cupid on Crutches, Theatre Royal Covent Garden, 26 December 1810. Hand- coloured etching. Published by Rudolph Ackermann, 1811 from a drawing by R. Norman |
| Physical description | Hand-coloured etching of Joseph Grimaldi boxing a giant figure created out of vegetables. Titled 'Mr. Grimaldi as Clown in the Popular Pantomime of Harlequin & Asmodeus, now performing at the Theatre Royal Covent Garden, Setting to with a Grotesque Figure which he makes with a series of Vegetables, Fruit &c, and which becoming Animated beats him off the Stage.' |
| Dimensions |
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| Gallery label | Food fighter
Joseph Grimaldi was a very popular clown. This scene might look a bit weird, but he did actually fight people dressed as vegetables in some of his shows.
[Young V&A, Imagine Gallery short object label](2023) |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Literary reference | Harlequin & Asmodeus |
| Summary | Harlequin and Asmodeus, or, Cupid on Crutches, opened at the Theatre Royal Covent Garden on Boxing Day, Wednesday 26 December 1810, as an afterpiece to Ben Jonson's play Every Man in his Humour. This engraving depicts the clown Joseph Grimaldi (1778-1837) engaged in a boxing match with a man made of vegetables. Grimaldi wields giant turnips and faces an opponent who has a pumpkin head topped with a sprig of celery, a cabbage body, carrot arms and fingers, beet legs and mushroom feet. Grimaldi was becoming well known about this time for constructing comic grotesque characters from found objects, and one of the earliest instances of this was in Harlequin in his Element, or, Fire, Water, Earth and Air, Covent Garden, 29 December 1807, when he made a figure from a fresh salmon, a pair of gloves, a hatbox, and the hat of the constable sent to arrest him. In Harlequin Padmanaba, or, the Golden Fish, 26 December 1811, he made a child's bassinet with four wheels of cheese hitched to a team of springer spaniels. After the publication of Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein in 1818, Grimaldi was sometimes jokingly called Joe Frankenstein, in celebration of his ability to bring monsters to life. When Grimaldi finally retired retired from the stage in 1828, the poet Thomas Hood wrote a tribute which included the lines: For who like thee could ever stride! Some dozen paces to the mile! -- The motley, medley coach provide -- Or like Joe Frankenstein compile The vegetable man complete! -- A proper Covent Garden feat! |
| Associated object | S.713-2016 (Object) |
| Other number | F.67-35 - H Beard collection numbering |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | S.1398-2009 |
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| Record created | January 27, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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