The flying privy

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Lord Westmorland flies in profile to the left, clutching a closed green umbrella. Spiky, umbrella-like wings are strapped to his shoulders. From between his legs a large (gold and onyx) seal, labelled Privy Seal, falls to the ground. His profile and dress (top-hat, leather breeches, and top-boots) are copied from Dighton’s portrait (BM Satires 14265). At the base of the design and backed by trees are the heads and shoulders of two men and a woman gazing up. Each top-hatted man scowls, holding his nose with a gloved hand; one says “What is that?”; the other, “There he goes!” The woman, pleasurably amused, exclaims: “Ha! Ha! Oh! My!”

  • Printmaker: Cruikshank, Robert, 1789-1856.
  • Title: The flying privy [graphic] : from Westmoreland / R.C. fecit.
  • Published: [London] : Pubd. by G. Humphrey, 24 St. Jamees’s [sic] St., June 1827.

Catalog Record

Acquired October 2011.