Comedy 1804

William Marshall Craig made this drawing called ‘Comedy’ using graphite on paper in the late 18th or early 19th century. It depicts two cherubic figures, one holding up a theatrical mask. Here we can see the Neoclassical obsession with themes drawn from the art of classical Greece and Rome. The mask relates to the ancient traditions of theatre. Consider the politics of imagery; the representation of comedy through such allegorical figures evokes an ideal world of harmony and beauty, deliberately turning away from the social problems of contemporary Britain. Craig was a painter to the royal family and was associated with institutions like the British Royal Academy, which promoted particular styles of art while excluding others. To better understand this drawing, we could look at the records of British theatre, the archives of the Royal Academy, and critical writings from the period. This work demonstrates that the meaning of art is always contingent on its social and institutional context.