A young, pretty English woman in fashionable attire takes the arm of a handsome, well-dressed Frenchman.
816.00.00.84
Acquired April 2024
“Henry Hunt (right) hurls a jar of his ‘Hunts Matchless Blacki[ng]’ at the Lord Mayor (William Thompson). The Mayor, who wears his gown, raises the City mace defensively in both hands. Hunt registers frenzied rage; he holds a second jar in his left hand; at his feet is a paper: ‘Petition against increased Duty on Coals’. Just behind him is a pugnacious coal-heaver clutching a blacking-jar; he says: ‘Go it, my covey another black un–d–n me, if Blackey and Coaley can’t do it the devil’s in ’em.’ The Mayor smiles, despite a cascade of blacking. Behind him and on the extreme left is a barrister in wig and gown, probably the Recorder (Newman Knowlys). He says: ‘Mind what your at my hearty–keep up your favorite guard or he’ll beat you as black as his own factory.'”–British Museum online catalogue.
829.06.01.08
Acquired June 2024
A couple holding hands lean toward each other as they gaze into one another’s eyes with affection.
Drawings D574 no. 9 Box D117
Acquired May 2024
“A handsome young Highland officer walks arm-in-arm with a slightly taller young woman. Her hair under her flat feathered hat is in a small bag or net of tartan. Behind these walk in single file the family descending in height. First, a youth in Highland uniform, next three girls, the second without a hat, her hair curling on her shoulders. Last a small boy, in Highland uniform, carrying a stick across his shoulder, musket-wise, and holding a dog on a lead. The dress of all the girls is plainer, skimpier, and shorter than that of Frenchwomen; all, except the youngest, have bodices or spencers of different colours from their skirts.”–British Museum online catalogue.
816.02.00.01
Acquired April 2024
A watercolor drawing of a scene in Westminster Hall with three judges presiding over a crowded courtroom.
Drawings D574 no. 7 Box D205
Acquired March 2024
Watercolor drawing of a grotesque old woman, with lines from Thomas Cambell’s poem “Pleasures of Hope” (1799) written in ink below: The world was sad, The garden was a wild, And man the hermit sigh’d ’till woman smil’d.
On the verso a cropped impression of Plate 21, from the Miseries of London, captioned with a letterpress text cut from the work: See BMSat 10865: At the corner of Chancery Lane a fashionably dressed man and a scavenger have collided violently: both register pain and anger. Hackney coachmen on a stand facing the end of the street watch with amusement. A man behind (left) chases his hat, 1 March 1807.
Drawings Un58 no. 99 Box D166
Acquired September 2023
Two gentlemen wearing academic caps stand looking at tomb effigy in a side chapel of a church. The one man who has a large belly and is gesturing toward the tomb, bears some resemblance to Samuel Johnson. To the right, man confronts a woman who seems prepared to deliver a backhanded slap with her fan.
A second drawing on the back of the sheet is of a street scene, with a carriage, horse-drawn omnibus, various couples promenading in the street with one man begging with hat in hand.
Drawings R79 no. 25 Box D146
Acquired May 2024
“A young woman stands within a compass inscribed ‘Fear God’, holding an open book inscribed ‘The Pleasures of Imagination Realized’. At her feet is an open chest full of guineas from which hang bank-notes and jewels; it is inscribed ‘The Reward of Virtue’. A small dog stands beside her. In the background (right) is a country house, on the left farm-buildings and haystacks. The four corners are filled … with the disasters which beset the woman who does not ‘keep within compass’. (1) A woman weeps dejectedly with cards and an empty purse on the ground at her feet. (2) A drunken woman lets an infant fall from her arms; on the wall is a torn print inscribed ‘Domestic Happiness’. (3) A woman is being conducted to the watch-house by two watchmen, one with his lantern, the other with a rattle. (4) She beats hemp in Bridewell, a man standing behind her with a whip, as in Hogarth’s ‘Harlot’s Progress’. …”–British Museum
832.00.00.53
Acquired April 2024
“Illustration to a broadside, printed in four columns in the manner of a newspaper, and covering the upper part of the third and fourth columns. A whole-length portrait of Mrs. Clarke (unrecognizable, but alluring), standing with one hand on the head of a sofa. In the background are four oval bust portraits of other women: ‘Miss Taylor’ [see British Museum Satires No. 11229], ‘Mrs Carey’ [see British Museum Satires No. 11050], ‘Miss Gifford’, and ‘Mrs Shaw’. … The text, in eight chapters, is in the quasi-biblical language not uncommon in satires, e.g., British Museum Satires No. 6465, and afterwards exploited by Hone. The text is an account of the relations between the Duke of York and Mrs. Clarke, and the Parliamentary proceedings, highly flattering to Wardle and Burdett. It ends: ‘And behold he [the Duke] walketh in a vain shew, which shall fade in the sight of the people, whilst the fame of Wardle, Whitbread, and Burdett shall flourish and endure . . . the tergiversation of the Black Coats may whiten his honour [see British Museum Satires No. 11269], but who can believe him innocent of folly, vice, and acknowledged adultery? … Now the rest of the Acts of Mary Ann Clarke, … are they not written in the Chronicles of Blue Covers which flutter on the Stalls.'”–British Museum online catalogue.
809.03.00.10++
Acquired March 2024
“Satire on the English: a family in descending order of height, the father in military uniform, the daughter an identical version of her mother, and the smallest boy dressed as a jester..”–British Museum online catalogue.
816.02.00.02
Acquired April 2024