Daniel Lambert contrasted with a thin woman seated on his knee. Coloured etching by C. Williams, 1806.

"Daniel Lambert sits on a bergere holding a very thin and elongated woman seated on his left. knee which forms a broad and soft cushion. She wears a fashionably clinging dress."--British Museum catalogue, loc. cit.

The Dictionary of national biography states that Daniel Lambert was "the most corpulent man of whom authentic record exists". He was born in the parish of St. Margaret in Leicester on 13 March 1770. After taking over his father's post as Leicester gaoler in 1791, his size and weight started to increase enormously. By 1793 he weighed 32 stone although he was very strong and active, only drank water, and slept for less than eight hours a day. In 1805 he resigned his post at the prison to turn his amazing stature to profit by exhibiting himself all over England. He died in Stamford at the Waggon and Horses inn on 21 July 1809 weighing 739 lbs. See further L. Fiedler, 'Freaks', New York 1978, pp. 128-129

[London] (No. 11 Cockspur St) : Wm. Holland, April 1806.

1 print : etching with watercolour ; image and border 34.1 x 24 cm

Fat and lean

British Museum, Catalogue of political and personal satires, vol. III, no. 10632

Wellcome Collection 823440i