The miser, in patched dressing-gown and cap, is seated in an armchair at a circular table. Facing him, on the extreme right, death, as a manservant, stands stiffly erect, holding a plate on which is a bone; he is an emaciated and naked man, with a skull-like head. In his left hand is a spear which he conceals behind his back; under his left arm is a napkin. On the miser's table is the rind of half a cheese; on the prong of his broken fork is a fragment of food. He turns round towards the door (left), which famine holds open to admit a fashionably dressed prostitute, followed by a burly, meretricious-looking woman carrying a man's coat, shoes, and sword. The former holds a book, 'w[oma]n of ple[as]ure', and a watch and seals. They bring professional plunder to the miser, who appears to be a receiver of stolen goods. Famine is a corpse-like creature wearing a large hat on her head which is bandaged like that of a corpse. Her horrible and naked torso dwindles to a point at the waist, where it meets petticoats having a semblance of the fashionable contour (see bmsat 6874, &c. ) the room and its contents indicate squalor and hoarded wealth. A casement window has been blocked up (to escape the window-tax, cf. Bmsat 6630, &c. ) but the cracked plaster shows a few diamond-shaped panes. Pinned up beside it is a 'list of new taxes'. The fireplace is blocked up with a picture of the crucifixion, partly concealed by the table. On the chimney-piece are a headless statuette, tea-things, and a chamber-pot. Above it is a picture of the good samaritan. A padlocked cupboard, and a padlocked chest on which bulky money-bags are ranged, show the miser's wealth. In the foreground are two other chests on one of which stands an emaciated cat, miaowing for the bone on the plate held by death. Beneath the design is etched:
'with mould'ring viands is his cubboard stor'd,
and scanty supplements o'erspread the board,
what else can follow, but destructive fate,
when famine holds the cup, & death the plate?
supple' 6 march 1786
etching and aquatint. Date: 1786. Dimensions: Height: 300 mm; Width: 375 mm. Medium: paper. Depicted People: Mary Eleanor Bowes, Countess of Strathmore. Collection: British Museum. The miser's feast. (BM 1868,0808.5481)
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