So Skiffy Skipt On with his Wonted Grace
Sir Lumley Skeffington was a well-known fop, playwright, and friend of the Prince-Regent, who, it is said, often consulted Sir Lumley in matters of dress and fashion. He is shown, presumably, as he appeared at the King's annual birthday ball, dressed extravagantly. But Gillray's treatment is very much in the Italian tradition of caricature with virtually no elaboration of either ground or backdrop.
© National Portrait Gallery, London
But unlike the caricatures of Ghezzi, this is not simply a flat line drawing. Gillray uses all his printmaking skill to bring out the contours of Sir Lumley's jacket, the intricacy of his lace shirt and buttons, and the elegance of his stockings. Though restrained, there is a subtle sense of movement is his skipping gait.
With his affected manners, extravagant dress, sharp nose, and jutting chin, Sir Lumley was a gift to caricature and Gillray took full advantage of it. He appears in Half Natural [1799], A Pair of Polished Gentlemen [1801], The Union Club [1801], and Dilettanti Theatricals [1803].
Sources and Reading
- Commentary from the British Museum on So Skiffy Skipt On with his Wonted Grace
- Draper Hill, Fashionable Contrasts, 1966, #72
- "Lumley Skeffington," Wikipedia
- Thomas Wright and R.H. Evans, Historical and Descriptive Account of the Caricatures of James Gillray #472
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