Lord Grenville, Prime Minister and leader of the Broad Bottoms faction, meets Sarah Baartman, the "Hottentot Venus": on account of their similar body-mass, a dynastic marriage is considered. Coloured etching attributed to W. Heath, 1810.

  • Heath, William, 1795-1840.
Date:
15 of Nov. [1810]
Reference:
33012i
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Description

Sarah Bartman (Saartjie Baartman, Saat-Jee, "the Hotttentot Venus", etc. was exhibited in London in 1810 and died in Paris in 1815. Her remains were returned to South Africa by the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, in 2002: see The times, 30 April 2002. Here she is shown meeting members of the Grenville family, some of whom were corpulent, members of a broad-based political coalition called "Broad Bottoms", and regarded as greedy. She shakes hands with Lord Grenville (William Wyndham Grenville), Prime Minister and leader of the Broad Bottoms faction. He is shown as dark-skinned and is dressed in a parody of African costume incorporating a peer's mantle. Behind Grenville is his elder brother, the Marquess of Buckingham (George Nugent Temple Grenville), wearing spectacles. On the right, behind Baartmann, is Buckingham's son, Lord Temple (Richard Temple Nugent Brydges Chandos, Earl Temple, subsequently Duke of Buckingham and Chandos)

Publication/Creation

London (50 Piccadilly) : S.W. Fores, 15 of Nov. [1810]

Physical description

1 print : etching, with watercolour ; image 30 x 20.9 cm

Lettering

Love at first sight, or a pair of Hottentots, with an addition to the broad bottom family. Lord Grenville says "At last I have met with a true Broad Bottom real flesh no deception!!! I wonder if broad Bottoms would breed in this country". Sarah Bartmann replies "Me hear of your bottom, me long to see it, me write to you about it!!!". Lord Buckingham says "Ah sure a pair were never seen so justly formed to meet by Nature" (a quotation from Sheridan's comic opera The duenna (1774)). Lord Temple says "Charming indeed I am so pappy [sic] the family is not extinct"

References note

British Museum, Catalogue of political and personal satires, vol. viii, London 1947, no. 11577
S.L. Gilman, "Black bodies, white bodies", Critical Inquiry, 1985, vol. 12, pp. 204-242 (on Bartmann)
F. Fernandez-Armesto, So you think you're human?, Oxford 2004, pl. 14 (reproduced)

Reference

Wellcome Collection 33012i

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