Human nature is fond of novelty

description below

An old officer in uniform with a wrinkled face and carbuncles looks lustfully at a pretty young woman as they walk together on a path, his hand grasping hers.

  • Artist: Rowlandson, Thomas, 1756-1827, artist.
  • Title: Human nature is fond of novelty – Pliny [art original].
  • Production: [England], [late 18th century?]

Catalog Record

Drawings R79 no. 24 Box D146

Acquired June 2023

Mrs. Clarke’s patent extinguisher

description below

“Mrs. Clarke sits on Wardle’s right shoulder, to place over the head of the Duke of York a giant extinguisher which covers all but his legs and (military) coat-tails. At the apex of the extinguisher is a five-pointed star surrounded by the letters ‘T’ ‘R’ ‘U’ ‘T’ ‘H’. She says: “Beneath this Canopy’s oblivious shade Detected Y——hides his diminished head” On the cone are the inscriptions: ‘Multum in Papvo’ [sic] and: ‘Now Phoenix like, with renovated fire To noble deeds our Army shall aspire Whilst haughty Gaul shall emulate its praise And England round a Woman’s brow entwine the Bays.’ Wardle wears regimentals and sword and is tall and handsome; a letter ‘To Col Wardle’ projects from a pocket.”–British Museum online catalogue.

Catalog Record

809.03.00.09+

Acquired April 2023

A tenth rejected, or, The dandyfied coxcomb in a bandbox

description below

“A farmyard scene, with a corner of the house on the left. A grossly fat and carbuncled parson on a quest for tithes encounters the farmer’s wife, who runs towards him proffering an open bandbox, with a dangling lid inscribed 10th. A miniature hussar, very dandified in shako and pelisse, stands in it, superciliously inspecting the parson through an eye-glass. The woman, who is plump and well-dressed, wearing apron and bonnet, says: Seeing your Reverence comeing for your Tithes, I have brought you a Tenth. The parson, who holds a large book, Tithe list, and has a chicken in his capacious pocket, answers with a scowl and gesture of refusal: Take it back! take it back! good Woman; I never tithe Monkeys. The little hussar says: Eh! eh! what does that there fellow say? An amused yokel with a pitchfork leans over a gate (left). A cock crows on a dunghill, an ass brays. Corn-sheaves stand in a distant field.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Williams, Charles, active 1797-1830, printmaker.
  • Title: tenth rejected, or, The dandyfied coxcomb in a bandbox [graphic].
  • Publication: [London] : Pubd. 10th April 1824 by John Fairburn, Broadway, Ludgate Hill, [10 April 1824]

Catalog Record

824.04.10.01+

Acquired January 2022

To the most noble George Marquis of Townshend

description below

“A mounted officer of the Norfolk rangers, his blued sword drawn, a Tarleton helmet on his head, in green uniform with black facings and silver lace, a sword-belt across his chest and a sash about his waist, other members of the corps exercising in the fields beyond, the colours of the regiment below.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Tomkins, Charles, 1757-1823, printmaker, artist.
  • Title: To the most noble George Marquis of Townshend, the officers and gentlemen of the Norfolk Rangers, this portrait and representation of their uniform is inscribed by the proprietors [graphic] / drawn & engrav’d by Chas. Tomkins.
  • Publication: [London] : Pubd. as the act directs, Decr. 1, 1799, for the proprietors by Egerton, Whitehall, [1 December 1799]

Catalog Record

799.12.01.01

Acquired June 2021

York commission warehouse

description below

“Mrs. Clarke stands before a large doorway inscribed Clark and Company. She wears a white short-sleeved dress with plumed cocked hat, gorget, and military sash, sword-belt and scabbard. The sword she holds over her head, saying, Now Gentlemen you had better be quick I have a few bargains to dispose of. as the partnership is disolving. She holds out a paper: List of Prices at Clark and C°’s Warehouse–Majority–£900. Company –7oo. Lieutenancy 400. Through the doorway behind her are seen great stacks of papers in her ‘warehouse’. These are labelled: Captains Commissions 500 each, Half-pay Commissions 200 each, Lieutenant, Colonel, Major, Cornet. On the wall is a notice: NB a sum wanted by way o Loan, terms to be seen within. On the right stands a man playing a fiddle, and saying with a sly smile, If you want de commission, you must give me de Note den I go play de Fiddle to de white petticoat. From his coat-pockets hang papers: Pay Sigr Cor[ri] for [word illegible] 200; and a piece of music: The Petticoat [see British Museum Satires No. 11220]. Beside him lies a large Note Book. Above his head hangs upside down a portrait: The Dukes Head; the upper part only of the Duke of York’s profile is visible, defaced by a black mark, the rest of the picture being cut off by the upper margin of the design. On the left two military bandsmen play a drum and fife. One asks: What tune shall we play now Jack the Duke of Yorks Marck [sic]? Answer: No No lets play she’s off with another.”–British Museum online catalogue.

 

  • Printmaker: Williams, Charles, active 1797-1830, printmaker.
  • Title: York commission warehouse [graphic].
  • Publication: [London] : Pubd. February 1809 by Walker, No. 7 Cornhill, [February 1809]

Catalog Record

809.02.00.02+

Acquired March 2020

The allied bakers, or, The Corsican toad in the hole

The allied bakers, or, The Corsican toad in the hole

“Three allied generals (left) hold the long handle of a shovel (peel) on which is a dish containing a tiny Napoleon. This they try to push into a baker’s oven, but are hindered by the Austrian emperor, who holds the door of the oven, feigning to be trying to open it, but actually holding it at an angle which prevents the entry of the dish. The leading baker is Blücher, wearing an apron over his uniform, and without a hat; he looks sternly at Francis, saying, “Pull away Frank! you Keep us waiting!” General Mikhail Woronzoff, young and handsome, immediately behind Blücher, pushes hard, saying, “In with it Blücher.” On the extreme left is Bernadotte, one hand on Woronzoff’s shoulder, saying, “I tell you what, Woronzow, the Hinges want a little Russia Oil.” Francis I, who like the others wears uniform with jack-boots, but has (baker’s) over-sleeves to the elbow, says with an expression of startled alarm: “This door Sticks! I dont think I shall get it open?!” A weathercock surmounts his cocked hat. Wellington comes up (right), poking him in the back with his baker’s tray on which are two pies. He says: “Shove alltogather [sic] Gentlemen! D-me shove door & all in!” His two pies are ‘Soult Pie’, with two spurred jack-booted legs projecting through the crust, and a pie with spires and other buildings, with a flag inscribed ‘Bourdeaux’. He wears an apron and the order of the Golden Fleece as well as the star of the Garter. A fat, grotesque Dutchman sits on a flat cushion gazing up at the oven; he holds, but does not use, a pair of bellows. In his conical hat is a tobacco-pipe. The fire under the oven is filled with broken eagles and fragments of weapons. Among the debris in the recess for ashes is a crown. Above the oven is the inscription ‘Allied Oven’ surmounted by a crown and cross-bones. In the shadow formed by the half-open door, a skull (Death) waits to receive Napoleon, who lies on his back, kicking violently, and shouting “Murder! Murder!!”; he wears a large plumed bicorne. The stone wall in which the oven is built forms the background.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • PrintmakerCruikshank, George, 1792-1878, printmaker.
  • TitleThe allied bakers, or, The Corsican toad in the hole [graphic] / G.H. ivt. ; Gruikshank [sic] fect.
  • Publication[London] : Pubd. April 1st, 1814, by H. Humphrey, St. James St., [1 April 1814]

Catalog Record 

814.04.01.02+

Acquired June 2018

The Corsican whipping top in full spin!!!

The Corsican whipping top in full spin!!!

“A (tricolour) top with the head of Napoleon spins, above the ground, savagely lashed by representatives of the Allies. His arms and his legs have already been severed from his body, now represented only by the madly spinning top. The most violently active is Blücher (left) stripped to the shirt, his coat and hat thrown on a drum on the extreme left, beside which lie his gloves and baton. Facing them is Wellington (right) equally effective, stern, but less savage. Full-face, and immediately behind the top is the Tsar, left hand on hip; his whip is inscribed ‘Knout’. Between him and Wellington is Schwarzenberg (or Francis I). Bernadotte stands rather behind, between Blücher and Alexander, both hands on his hips; he holds a whip but is an amused spectator. Behind (right) the future King of Holland, crowned and wearing a star, but dressed in the breeches and jacket of the Dutchman in English caricature, sits under a tree on a cask of ‘Hollands’. He watches delightedly, holding up one of Napoleon’s legs inscribed ‘United Netherlands’. The other leg, the thigh inscribed ‘Swisslad, the boot Italy, lies near Blücher. At Wellington’s feet is the right arm inscribed Spain & Portugal’; the left arm, inscribed ‘Germany’, is near Schwarzenberg. Napoleon’s orb and (broken) sceptre lie near him, with some of the feathers from the large hat which is still on his head; his horrified and shrieking profile faces Blücher. In the background (left) is a road along which a carriage drives off, drawn by four galloping horses. It contains tiny figures: Marie Louise, crowned and looking behind her, and the little King of Rome also crowned and waving a sceptre. Two soldiers are on the box, two others sit behind. In the air behind Bernadotte a demon flies off to the left, with Joseph Bonaparte clutching his barbed tail. The latter, his crown flying off, looks back horrified, exclaiming “O! My poor Brother Nap oh oh! O!”.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • PrintmakerCruikshank, George, 1792-1878, printmaker.
  • Title:T he Corsican whipping top in full spin!!! [graphic] / G.H. invt. ; G. Cruikshank fect.
  • Publication[London] : Pubd. April 11th, 1814, by H. Humphrey, St. James’s Strt., [11 April 1814]

Catalog Record

814.04.11.01+

Acquired June 2018

The magnanimous minister chastiseing [sic] Prussian perfidy

Click for larger image

“Fox, wearing a military cocked hat, with civilian dress, threatens Prussia (or Frederick William III) with his sabre, while he puts a foot on the sword that Prussia has dropped. The latter, a grotesque figure with a long pigtail and moustaches, kneels terrified at his feet, clasping his hands in supplication. Fox says, with an expression of sour and calculating contempt, ” – O you Prussian Marauder, you! – what I’ve caught you at last? – what, You took me for a double-faced-Talleyrand! did you? – did you think I was like yourself, to Look One way & Row another? – what you thought because I make Loyal Speeches now, that I must be a Turncoat? – O you Frenchified Villain! – I’ll teach you to humbug & insult my poor, dear, dear Master? – & to join with such Rascals as Boney, & O’Conner!” Prussia exclaims, terrified, “indeed! indeed! indeed! I could not help it. – ” Meanwhile, Napoleon, holding his sabre, and wearing feathered bicorne, with spurred jack-boots, furtively hastens up to Fox from behind, to read the open book which the latter displays to him behind his back: ‘State of the Nation’.

  • Printmaker: Gillray, James, 1756-1815, printmaker.
  • Title: The magnanimous minister chastiseing [sic] Prussian perfidy [graphic] / Jas. Gillray delt.
  • Created: [London : s.n, ca. 2 May 1806?]

Catalog Record & Digital Collection

806.05.02.01+

Acquired November 2013