Napoleon sits at a table, slouched back in his chair with a sick look on his face, a menu in his left hand and a fork in his right. A lobseter, two fishes, a chicken and a head of a lamb all from his unbuttoned waistcoat
820.00.00.117+
Acquired November 2024
Three very bored-looking Englishmen sit around a table drinking wine, none looking at each other. The obese man in the middle is yawning with an outstretched arm
818.00.00.64
Acquired November 2024
In a fashionable restaurant decorated with plants and a chandelier, three men, one in a military frock coat, sitting at a table with a punch bowl and glasses, express surprise as the waiter hands them the bill for their lunch which included beefsteak, various liquors, ice cream and bread. A pretty hostess stands behind the counter on the left writing out another bill. Below the image is the caption” Goddam! Quinze cent francs pour un déjeuner!!!! C’est beaucoup fort cher— yes, yes yes …… .
815.00.00.20+
Acquired November 2024
“A caricatured old man shown half-length to right, sipping from a small glass and his arms around a bottle, resting his elbows on a table, wearing tattered clothes and a hat over a scarf around his head; in an oval.”–British Museum online catalogue, description of the related print.
Drawings D574 no. 11 Box D117
Acquired June 2024
Four caricatures of men eating soup each type identified below the image: a rich man with rhinophyma eats “Turtle Soup”; a tall, thin soldier with a queue hairstyle eats “Soup Maigre”; a dustman eats “Pea Soup”; and a thin man in an upholstered armchair and wearing a cap and slippers eats “Mutton Broth.”
826.00.00.93
Acquired September 2023
Elegant and affluent customers enjoy ices in a grand room in London’s fashionable St. James’s. The female server behind the counter is elegantly dressed and looks with ease out of the window. A finely dressed gentleman leans against the counter at right, spooning ice cream into his mouth from a glass he holds in his left hand; his hat, gloves, and stick are carefully arranged on a chair next him. Two women are seated at the left side of the counter, one holding an ice cream glass and spoon. A classical fireplace on the right has additional glasses arranged upon it. A great craze in 18th-century Britain, amongst the wealthy, was ice cream. Establishments such as The Pineapple on Berkeley Square (close by St James’s), owned by Domenico Negri, offered “All Sorts of Ice, Fruits & Creams” (see the elaborate trade card in the British Museum). This print was intended as a companion piece to “Refreshment at St. Giles’s” which, in contrast, shows two women and a man being served gin by a female proprietor from a makeshift and run-down bar.
789.06.00.01+
Acquired September 2023
“John Bull sits full face holding a bowl of soup, between Addington, the cook, and the protesting Windham on the extreme right. On the left Pitt sits in profile to the left before an enormous kitchen fire, over which hangs a giant cauldron; he blows the fire with bellows, saying, ‘I dont know how it is – but I manage this Soup business rather awkwardly – I suppose it is from being so much used to the stewing and Broiling line.’ Addington, who wears the Speaker’s wig with apron and over-sleeves, and holds a long ladle, says: ‘Though I say it that made it – you never tasted better soup in your life’. Windham (right) stands in profile to the left his knees flexed, saying, ‘O’ Mr Bull – Mr Bull – if you have any regard for your Constitution – dont touch it – the Cayen of Jacobinism flavours every spoonful – and the Fire that boil it I consider as a Funeral Pile for all your well wishes – do Johnny take some of my Cheese-parings – they are very wholesome, and easy of Digestion.’ John says, his eyes turned towards Addington, his spoon raised to his mouth: ‘I don’t mind what he says – my Hearty I say it’s very good Soup – and a d——d deal better [word erased] than your Gin. I should like a little more bread for all that, and it would be quite as well – if it did not taste so strong of the Ceylon pepper.'”British Museum online catalogue.
802.03.00.04+
Acquired September 2020
Engraving of William Hogarth’s 1748 painting ‘O the Roast Beef of Old England’ (London, Tate Britain), which he had himself published as a print. The scene is set at the Gate of Calais (after the painting in the Tate Gallery) with a fat monk prodding a large sirloin of beef carried by a cook, on either side are two French soldiers, one of whom spills his bowl of thin soup as he gazes in amazement at the beef; on the left, three market women with crosses hanging from their necks admire a skate in a basket of fish; on the right, two ragged men carry a large pot of soup while another drinks from a bowl, and a Scottish soldier cowers beneath an archway; in the middle distance, to left, Hogarth himself is seen sketching at the moment when a soldier’s hand takes him by the shoulder; beyond, through the gate, is a religious procession.
Hogarth 766.00.00.03+ Box 200
Acquired March 2020
A stout man reclines on a chaise-longue; a small cup meets his lips, from which he drinks wine. Above this, a small tube from which cracked nuts descend. On the wall are two wheels and the mechanism which pours and decants the wine, and cracks the nuts.
830.01.01.08+
Acquired November 2020
A group of gentlemen seated at an oval table, with glasses full of wine, laugh uproariously at a joke as they look down at the dog at the foot of the table.
823.09.00.02
Acquired June 2020