
Poppy Harvey-Jones
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£4,000 - £6,000
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The present painting is derived from the Set of illustrations for the Quixote by Coypel, originally executed as cartoons for tapestries and later engraved and published in series in Paris.
The present scene depicts 'Pedro Rezio of Aguero', the doctor of Barataria, forbidding 'Sancho Panza' to taste any of the meats set before him. Roasted partridge was forbidden by Hippocrates; podrida was the most pernicious food in the world; rabbits are a sharp-haired diet; veal is prejudicial to health; but the governor might eat a 'few wafers, and a thin slice or two of quince.' (Don Quixote, part II., book III., chap. 10.).