Not currently on display at the V&A

The Wedding Ball! Or Ma'am'selle M-r c-n-.-ti's Highland Fling into High Life!!

Print
1823 (Published)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

In a desolate moorland setting with hills and a croft in the background, to the left a gentleman wearing 1820s top hat, blue coat with yellow waistcoat and grey striped trousers, wielding drumsticks beating money bags; he is attached by a 'matrimonial noose' to a dancer wearing a ballet dress with pink bodice and yellow skirtr garlanded with roses, while on the right a barelegged gentleman wearing a brown 1820s coat and top hat with a green and red kilt, is playing a fife, seated on a trunk marked "To Duff House". Titled below: "The Wedding Ball! Or Ma'am'selle M-r c-n-.-ti's Highland Fling into High Life!!" Etching coloured by hand by George Cruikshank, published T Fairburn, 7 April 1823.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleThe Wedding Ball! Or Ma'am'selle M-r c-n-.-ti's Highland Fling into High Life!!
Materials and techniques
Etching coloured by hand
Brief description
"The Wedding Ball! Or Ma'am'selle M-r c-n-.-ti's Highland Fling into High Life!!" Etching coloured by hand by George Cruikshank, published T Fairburn, 7 April 1823.
Physical description
In a desolate moorland setting with hills and a croft in the background, to the left a gentleman wearing 1820s top hat, blue coat with yellow waistcoat and grey striped trousers, wielding drumsticks beating money bags; he is attached by a 'matrimonial noose' to a dancer wearing a ballet dress with pink bodice and yellow skirtr garlanded with roses, while on the right a barelegged gentleman wearing a brown 1820s coat and top hat with a green and red kilt, is playing a fife, seated on a trunk marked "To Duff House". Titled below: "The Wedding Ball! Or Ma'am'selle M-r c-n-.-ti's Highland Fling into High Life!!" Etching coloured by hand by George Cruikshank, published T Fairburn, 7 April 1823.
Dimensions
  • Height: 301mm
  • Width: 444mm
Production typeMass produced
Marks and inscriptions
  • "Ball Hughes" (Textual information; Lower edge to left; Handwriting; Pencil; Unknown)
  • "Mdlle Mercandoti" (Textual information; Lower edge centre; Handwriting; Pencil; Unknown)
  • "Earl of Fife" (Textual information; Lower edge right; Handwriting; Pencil; Unknown)
Credit line
Cyril W. Beaumont Bequest
Object history
The print came to the Museum as part of the Cyril Beaumont Bequest.
Historical context
The satire refers to the 16 year old dancer Maria Mercandotti, who disappeared from her engagement at the London Opera House in 1823, leaving her patron (some said her father) Lord Fife, who had persuaded her to London from Paris, to marry Ball Hughes, a wealthy society notoriety and gambler known as the Golden Ball.
Subjects depicted
Collection
Accession number
S.307-2000

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Record createdFebruary 19, 2001
Record URL
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