A caricature of George IV fishing on Virginia Water, using his scepter as a rod, watched by a kingfisher and a wagtail. On the end of his line is a frog, which is being netted by Lady Conyngham, his mistress.
836.07.13.01+
Acquired September 2023
View of the small “oratory of St. Nicholas” perched on a tiny island in Switzerland’s Lake Lucerne.
824.00.00.65
Acquired September 2023
A poor family in rags sing on a city streets to earn money. The man, a veteran with a peg leg, plays the violin; his uniform is patched up. The boy wears no shoes and a coat too big for him; he holds out a hat to collect the money. The woman wears a ragged dress and a patched cloak covering a baby on her back; she carries a basket with loaded with the broadsides for sale.
828.00.00.117
Acquired September 2023
“Plate from the ‘Satirist’, xiii. 193. In the text the title continues ‘. . ., “alias” War’. A satire on the Congress of Prague. Four sovereigns, completely unlike the men in question, in conference. The Tsar sits behind a small rectangular table on which are displayed implements of war in miniature: cannon, pyramids of cannon-balls, muskets, swords, drums, &c., and flags on one of which are fleurs-de-lis. On the left stand the King of Prussia and the Emperor of Austria, on the right is Napoleon. Alexander extends his hands rhetorically, turning to the left, with a puckered scowl, to say to the two Germans: “Come Gentlemen see first if you can agree–if not we’ll all fight!” He has quasi-Kalmuck features, and wears an odd-shaped crown, an ermine-bordered robe, with a jewelled necklace and a Greek cross. Frederick William III, on the extreme left, clutches the hilt of his sword and puts his left hand to his cocked hat as if ready to doff it, he turns to Francis I, towards whom a label issues from his mouth: “I am ready to treat or to fight”; a second label floats to the left, inscribed ‘Infernal Scoundrel’. Francis I, looking distracted, stands directed to the right, legs apart, and in his left hand is his sabre, the blade of which curves over the Tsar’s head, but both hands touch his crown, and he says: “I will wear an independant Crown.” He wears hussar uniform, cloak, sash, and elaborately embroidered tunic and pantaloons. Napoleon, tall and burly, with heavy whisker and aquiline profile, wears a plumed bicorne with tricolour cockade and very tattered uniform leaving his legs almost bare, with one dilapidated jack-boot and one damaged stocking; he has a long sword. He stands aggressively with arms dramatically extended, saying, “My Friends! all we wish is Peace.” A chain is attached to each great toe, which is fastened to the necks of two miserable princes, tiny figures standing between his outstretched legs. One (left), Charles IV of Spain, wearing a crown and robe, grotesquely knock-kneed and despairing, stands full-face. The other, wearing a crown with uniform and sword, stoops in profile, looking up abjectly at Napoleon’s legs. On the extreme right, in the middle distance, is a tall Spanish don, much emaciated, wrapped in a cloak. He looks down with folded arms at a fat British officer beside him, who says: “I ll countenance Austria into our interests.” The Spaniard: “I’ll be damned if I go to meet a Frenchman in Prague, while there is a Frenchman to meet in Spain!!!” Behind them in the background a tiny Napoleon, wearing a grotesque crown and holding a sword, marches downhill at the head of his soldiers carrying flags; he has a melancholy expression and approaches the edge of a precipitous descent.”–British Museum online catalogue.
813.09.01.02
Acquired September 2023
“The death of Chunee, a large Asian elephant, kept at the Exeter Change menagerie; to the left; a group of soldiers and others, all carrying guns; some observing and others firing on Chunee to the right; who, roaring, breaks the bars of his wooden cage; blood pouring from many wounds and soaking the floor; the keeper, in shirtsleeves, stabbing the elephant with a bayonet; smoke obscuring the scene; behind; small iron-barred cages containg an agitated lion and tiger respectively; above hutches containing monkeys, one grasping the bars.”–British Museum online catalogue.
826.03.06.01+
Acquired September 2023
“A large man accompanied by a violinist serenades an elderly lady who leans out of her window.”–British Museum online catalogue.
802.10.11.01
Acquired September 2023
“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.
821.07.00.04
Acquired September 2023
“A fat squat and ugly woman sits on a sofa next a tall dandified officer (right) who makes his address, his hand on his breast. She turns to him complacently, her feet awkwardly resting on a stool. Their two dogs face each other, each with shape and manner corresponding with its owner. Two appropriate pictures are on the wall: Bank of England (left) and Seige of Acre (right).”–British Museum online catalogue.
823.01.10.02
Acquired September 2023
A clergyman in bands and gown, his hat on the pavement, squares up to a watchman holding a lantern and stick, his fists raised. He has evidently knocked out one watchman already, who lies on the ground, wig dislodged and still touching his lantern, while a third approaches from the left. Possibly from a series featuring a pugnacious parson’s brushes with the law.
778.09.14.01+
Acquired September 2023
A fashionable couple walk on a country road past a cottage. A woman carrying a small child and carrying bags on her back approach them from behind and one of her small children on foot doffs his cap and reaches out his hand for alms. Another small child, also cap in hand, hangs onto his mother’s skirts. Also on the road, heading in the opposite direction is a wagon filled with recruits and soldiers and one woman holding onto a large trunk.
812.00.00.130
Acquired September 2023