The box of a theatre seen from the front. Lord derby left and miss farren right sit facing each other in profile, their heads close together, both smiling. He sits on the back bench leaning forward, she sits on the front bench turning round towards him. She holds a fan on which is a profile head of an old crone inscribed 'diana', with some resemblance to her own sharp features; on each side of it is a leafless tree. Her hair is elaborately dressed with feathers and ringlets in the fashion of c. 1777. Round her tightly-laced waist is a narrow belt inscribed 'cestus', evidently representing the girdle of chastity. In the opposite corner of the box (left), her back turned to the lovers, is a woman wearing a cloak and hood. The box is decorated with emblems of the relations between lord derby and miss farren: two heads decorate the sides of the box, one of lord derby (left), with satyr's ears, a beard, and stag's horns, one inscribed 'dorset', looking with a grin towards the couple in the box. On the opposite side is a similar head, with satyr's ears and small horns sprouting from his forehead; he looks with a grin at the lovers and is perhaps intended for the duke of dorset. A bird is perched above the centre of the box; it leans towards the lovers saying "cuckoo". Beneath the centre of the box, at the central point of a carved festoon of leaves, a pig and a cat face each other, each with its fore-paws on the other's shoulder. Beneath the title is etched, 'a scene, in the green boxes between lord doodle and miss tittup, with her mamma at an humble distance'. Below this are the thoughts of miss farren: 'what a charming life i lead to what i did - my lord likes me - and i like my lord'. 29 march 1784
etching. Date: 1784. Dimensions: Height: 240 mm; Width: 224 mm. Medium: paper. Depicted People: Elizabeth Farren, Countess of Derby. Collection: British Museum. The Platonic Lovers (BM 1868,0808.5204)
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