hmm, not convinced about some of this. Gown and mortar board not untypical for surgeons. And it also looks like John Freke. And it also makes much more sense that it is Freke, given context, setting and personal association.
From Richard: 'I'm sorry I don't convince you. I agree that surgeons would wear gowns and mortar boards, indeed I think that the others in the "audience" are indeed surgeons. But (what I take to be) the barristers'/judges' bands? And the position below the Royal Arms, as in court?...
..I knew of the Freke identification and connection (although interestingly Uglow seems to think that the bespectacled knife-wielder may be Freke) but the similarity to the Willes of The Bench strikes me as a real one, not one I've forced. But it's a hypothesis, and I'm grateful for your interest.'
pass my thanks for coming back to me from the real world. Such a rare exchange. I would counter that the bands were perfectly ordinary legal, clerical and academic wear in this period. One could debate the point of the royal arms, but the overwhelming purpose here is to show the rot cruelty...
... causes at the hear of civilisation. In the name of curiosity, these men have abandoned their morality. The reward of cruelty is society's loss of humanity. Or something like that. From what I know, the theatre here is not from life, but a composite. The arms may well be Hogarth's discretion...
... or perhaps a subtle replacement of the Barber Surgeon's arms, which look similar, but which would have been less relevant with the departure of the surgeons just before this image is set.
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