The Fortune Tellers

William Jones (fl.1738-d.1747)

Oil on canvas

27 ¼ x 35 ½ inches; 69 x 90 cm

Provenance:

Sotheby's, London, 11th July 1990, lot 31; Private Collection

This unusually explicit picture is a rare work by William Jones. Little is known of Jones’ career, though he is often considered to be Irish thanks to a series of Irish landscapes, such as the ‘View of Dublin Bay’ illustrated in ‘Ireland’s Painters’ (Ann Crookshank and the Knight of Glin, Yale 2000, p.75). A peripatetic artist, we can assume, thanks to this painting and two similar works in the Tate, that Jones practiced for a time in London, where he was influenced by the growing fashion for Watteau-esque scenes. Jones’ pair of paintings from Colley Cibber’s Damon & Philida (Tate) show him satisfying the new demand for themed conversation pieces in the manner of Hogarth and Hayman

The scene shown in the present picture is a popular eighteenth century subject, the fortune teller. Although today we might assume that the fortune teller, here the aged harridan in red, is reading tea leaves, she is in fact examining coffee grinds (at the far right a maid heats the coffee in silver pot). As with so many similar pictures from the early eighteenth century, Hogarth’s ‘Gin Lane’ being a famous example, the picture has a strong moral message.

A similar picture by Francis Hayman was engraved by Francis Vivares, and was accompanied by a caption warning women against ‘The wily Coffee Sorc’ress’ attempting to persuade them to abandon any semblance of chastity. ‘Let not an Hag’s vile Cant thy Heart insnare’ the picture advised, ‘When Vertue guides thy Steps, Thou Canst not err’. In this example, which would not have been accompanied by such an inscription, Jones has clearly felt the need to emphasise the picture’s sexual nature. A large bed is shown on the left, hidden behind drapery, while the rather more obvious pose of the woman in blue leaves little to the imagination. The only mystery is whether Jones, who also painted a small canvas entitled ‘Girl Showing her Bottom’ (Private Collection), agreed with the Fortune Teller’s salacious advice, or not.