Lot Essay
The celebration of the Flitch of Bacon, a salted side of hog carried in the procession every four years or so at Great Dunmow, Essex, followed the mock trial of married couples to test whether or not they had repented of their marriage within a year and a day. An oil painting of the same subject, 17 x 50in., another of Stothard's typical processional compositions, but unrelated in detail, was sold at Christie's London on 16 June 1961, lot 96 (55 gns.).