Quiz-zing a Filly

This three-quarter length portrait caricature shows the Duke of Queensberry gazing lasciviously through a quizzing glass held in his left hand. At the same time, his right hand reaches suggestively into his pants.

The Duke of Queensberry was a notorious lecher and gambler, who was infamous for preying upon young women. His reputation is suggested with less subtlety by Robert Dighton in 1796 in a print called Old q-uiz the old goat of Piccadilly and by Woodward in 1800 in a print called Every Body in Town where the Duke chucks a young woman under the chin and invites her to ride his "little Horse."

One has only to compare this portrait caricature with that of the Earl of Hertford from 1780 to see how far Gillray has come in his capabilities as a print maker and portraitist. While still solidly within the Italian portrait caricature tradition, Quiz-zing a Filly is so much more refined and finished than [The Earl of Hertford]. Gillray's use of the etching needle to convey the texture of the jacket and the contours and shading of the Duke's face is beautifully subtle.

Sources and Reading

• Commentary from the British Museum on Quiz-zing a Filly
• "Duke of Queensberry", Georgian Gentleman
• "William Douglas, 4th Duke of Queensberry," Wikipedia

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