Tag Archives: Feathers

Adulation, or, A coronation oration by the Jack Pudding of the nation

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“George IV, crowned, and with orb and sceptre, sits on a coronation chair in Westminster Abbey (right). The Archbishop, well characterized, stands beside him, holding his mitre, his right hand on the chair. On the King’s right hand stands Londonderry (Castlereagh) in Garter robes; other peers stand behind him. All watch the antics of Canning, dressed in parti-coloured clothes as a merry-andrew or buffoon. He kneels on the dais at the King’s feet, arms flung wide; at his feet is a high-crowned hat with a peacock’s feather; on the back of his tunic are the letters M P and P C. He declaims: The delight of the Nation at the Celebration of your Majesty’s Coronation, the Exultation throughout the Creation exceeds all Imagination. the Expectation to which the Anticipation of this Consumation has given occasion is beyond Contemplation; we offer the Oblation of our Congratulation, without Hesitation or Trepidation; no Tribulation can effect a Cessation of the Sensation which pervades every Station; no Situation in whatever Deprivation will utter an Execration for the Association are in Preparation to effect an Extirpation of all Defamation. We hope the Expectation of a Decollation will produce Annihilation of all Deviation from strict Regulation; we submit to Subjugation without Hesitation, and we offer our Oration with gratefull Adoration upon this Jollification. The King composedly touches (or kicks) Canning’s chin with his toe. Peeresses stand in a gallery across the north transept, holding their coronets. Above them is a second and more crowded gallery.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Williams, Charles, active 1797-1830, printmaker.
  • Title: Adulation, or, A coronation oration by the Jack Pudding of the nation [graphic].
  • Publication: [London] : Pubd. July 1821 by S.W. Fores, Piccadilly, [July 1821]

Catalog Record

821.07.00.04

Acquired September 2023

The first exploit of the modern Quixote

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“Burdett in armour stands with legs astride, sword raised, left fist clenched, making an onslaught on a book which is on the ground, its pages slashed and tattered. On these are fragments of inscriptions: ‘Red Book for the . . .’; ‘Treasury’; ‘Pensions’ [twice]; ‘Pensions 4000, 3000, 2.400’; ‘Teller o the Ex[chequer] . . . 6000 4.000’; ‘Sinecu[res]’. He declaims: “I will not stop, – till I have cut out the accursed leaves of the Red Book!!!” His sword-blade is ‘Took’s Improved Steel’. On the right Tooke peers at him, holding aside a curtain; he says: “Come Come my pupil goes on better than I expected – very indeed for a beginning yes – yes – he’ll do after a little practice” [see British Museum Satires No. 10731, &c.]. He holds a book: ‘Diversions of Purley’ [see (e.g.) British Museum Satires No. 9020]. On the left John Bull, dressed as Sancho Panza with a short tunic and ruff, gapes at his master, his hands on his knees. He says: “What the deuce is he at now! he will certainly get himself into some scrape or other.” Mambrino’s helmet (the barber’s basin) lies at Burdett’s feet; it has a tricolour cockade and three feathers.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Williams, Charles, active 1797-1830, printmaker.
  • Title: The first exploit of the modern Quixote, or, John Bull turned Sancho Panza [graphic].
  • Publication: [London] : Pubd. June 1807 by Walker, No. 7 Cornhill, [June 1807]

Catalog Record

807.06.00.05+

Acquired February 2024

A coronation stool, of repentance

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“The Queen sits in profile to the right on a huge crown, her left foot on a footstool. She partly hides her face and an ambiguous grimace behind a fan inscribed C; in her right hand is a handkerchief. She is fat, very décolletée, and bejewelled, with monstrous ostrich feathers in her hair.”–British Museum online catalogue.

 

  • Printmaker: Lane, Theodore, 1800-1828, printmaker.
  • Title: A coronation stool, of repentance [graphic].
  • Publication: London : Pubd. by G. Humphrey, 27 St. James St., July 19, 1821.

Catalog Record

821.07.19.07

Acquired March 2020

The modern genius of history at her toilet

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The modern genius of history at her toilet

Caroline, wearing a chemise and high-strapped shoes, stands admiring herself in front of a full-length mirror. With her right hand she adjusts a feather in her elaborate headdress, which is adorned with the Prince of Wales’s feathers on the far side and several pointed feathers on the near side, two of which resemble horns; her left hand rests on her hip. Bergami stands behind her in astonished delight, his hands raised in the air; a garment hangs from his left arm, and several towels or pieces of clothing marked with the initials “B B” are strewn on the floor. A man and a woman peer in on the scene from an adjoining room, the man with a pleased look on his face and the woman with one of surprise. On the wall behind Bergami hangs an oval mirror, the decorative frame of which includes a figure of Cupid standing atop a goat while shooting an arrow. A book with “History” on its spine lies on its side in the left foregraound; a burning candle in its holder sits upon the book.

  • Printmaker: Lane, Theodore, 1800-1828, printmaker.
  • Title: The modern genius of history at her toilet [graphic].
  • Publication: London : Pubd. by G. Humphrey, 27 St. James’s St., May 20, 1821.

Catalog record 

821.05.20.02

Acquired March 2019

Can you forbear laughing

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“A lady stands at her dressing-table (right), her hair in an enormous pyramid decorated with feathers torn from a peacock, an ostrich and a cock. A young girl wearing a hat holds the peacock by a wing; another wearing a cap tugs hard at one of its tail feathers (which are very unlike peacock’s feathers). An ostrich (left), which has lost most of its tail feathers, is about to pluck out those which ornament the lady’s hair. A cock stands in the foreground (right), having lost almost all its tail feathers, many of which lie on the floor. A black servant wearing a turban stands on his mistress’s right, handing feathers from a number which he holds in his left hand. The lady, who faces three-quarter to the right, is elaborately dressed in the fashion of the day. Her pyramid of hair is decorated with lappets of lace and festoons of jewels as well as with feathers. She wears large earrings, a necklace with a cross, her bodice is cut very low, and her elbow sleeves have lace ruffles. A pannelled wall forms the background.”–British Museum online catalog.

  • Printmaker: Dawe, Philip.
  • Published: London : Printed for R. Sayer & J. Bennett, No. 53 Fleet Street, as the act directs 14 June 1776.

Catalog Record & Digital Collection

776.06.14.01+

Acquired November 2012