The Company of Undertakers 1795 - 1805

Editor: We're looking at "The Company of Undertakers" by Dent, made somewhere between 1795 and 1805. It's a drawing, or rather a print, depicting a group of men in rather unsettling wigs. It feels like a very pointed caricature. What do you make of it? Curator: A delicious bit of darkness, isn’t it? For me, this print sings of societal critique, dressed in the garb of humour, naturally. Dent skewers the establishment – look at those self-important wigs! Almost a uniform for pomposity, wouldn't you say? It’s like they’re choking on their own importance, each man puffing up a little more, obscuring reality and belching nonsense! Editor: So the wigs are symbolic? Curator: Absolutely! And their grim expressions, sucking on those...are they comforters or pipes, these long, slender things they cradle in their hands? Is Dent suggesting they are infantile and emotionally stunted as a consequence? Or maybe just that their trade of death and mourning is a sombre one and that the wigs offer some relief? Think about the time period too – what was England going through? Editor: Revolution in France? Shifting power structures? Curator: Exactly! So perhaps Dent’s poking fun at those resistant to change, clinging to outdated traditions, all swaddled in comforting but absurd traditions. "Et plurima mortis imago" says the inscription - a vast image of death - the wigs are all consuming... what do you see, though? Editor: I see that, and I also appreciate the etching itself. The lines create depth and shadows, intensifying the somewhat morbid atmosphere. I hadn't thought about the broader context and those possible hidden meanings! Curator: Precisely! Sometimes the darkest humor reveals the deepest truths, doesn’t it? Keeps things…real. Editor: Definitely food for thought. It makes me want to examine more satirical art of this era.