Execution of two celebrated enemies of Old England

printed text

The arms of two gibbets extend symmetrically, high above a bonfire; between them is an equally high post supporting a board on which the title is etched. From one (right) dangles a realistic effigy of Napoleon (scarcely caricatured) in cocked hat, uniform, and Hessian boots. From the other hangs a ruffianly fellow holding a dark lantern. They face each other in profile.

  • Creator: Rowlandson, Thomas, 1756-1827, artist.
  • Title: Execution of two celebrated enemies of Old England & their dying speeches, Nov. 5th, 1813 [art original].
  • Production: [England], [1813]

Catalog Record

Drawings R79 no. 22 Box D305

Acquired April 2023

View of the Twickenham bank of the Thames

description below

A view from Richmond of the Twickenham bank of the Thames, showing (left to right) Pope’s villa, Lady Ferrers’ summer house, Cross Deep, and Dr. Batty’s house (later Poulett Lodge).

  • Creator: Heckel, Augustin, approximately 1690-1770, artist.
  • Title: [View of the Twickenham bank of the Thames] [art original].
  • Production: [England], [ca. 1750]

Catalog Record

Drawings H448 no.1

Acquired February 2022

Collection of pictorial conundrum cards

collection of hand colored playing cardsA collection of pictorial conundrum cards from various unidentified sets of cards trimmed from larger sheets of etched images along with a single drawing signed “R. Ck.” suggesting it is his work on the largest set (incomplete) of 19 cards. The other four sets also incomplete are grouped by the similarity in style and letterforms. All cards contain a humorously named person with an image and a riddle. Presumably the sheet contained the answers to the riddles. Queen Victoria and Sir Edwin Eglinton (the Eglinton Tournament 1839) suggest the possible date of 1840.

  • Title: [Collection of pictorial conundrum cards] [graphic].
  • Production: [England], [between 1820 and 1840?]
  • Publication: [England] : [publisher not identified], [between 1820 and 1840?]

Catalog Record

724 820C

Acquired January 2021

Man playing a horn

description below

Half-length portrait of a man, in profile to the right, playing a horn. On the back, a pencil sketch of the backs of two figures.

 

  • Artist: Nixon, John, -1818, artist.
  • Title: [Man playing a horn] [art original].
  • Production: [England], [not after 1818]

Catalog Record

Drawings N736 no. 9 Box D141

Acquired January 2020

Mr. John Bull in a quandary

description below

An unfinished sketch for the engraving which appeared in the November 1845 issue of “George Cruikshank’s Table-book,” illustrating a brief article on railroad speculation by the periodical’s editor, Gilbert Abbott a Beckett. John Bull is beset by lilliputian tormentors who are removing all his cash, clothing, and possessions, beneath clouds of steam and a clanging bell.

 

  • Artist: Cruikshank, George, 1792-1878, artist.
  • Title: Mr. John Bull in a quandary, or, The anticipated effects of the railway calls [art original].
  • Production: [England], [ca. 1845]

Catalog Record

Drawings C889 no. 8 Box D115

Acquired July 2020

Sketchbook recording a tour in central and southern France

table of contents
An album of sketches largely comprised of images drawn by a traveller in central and southern France in the late 1820s and early 1830s. The images, executed in a variety of media and styles, are mostly skillfully drawn landscapes, elevations of buildings, and people in local costume, with captions in French (with some English)

  • Title: [Sketchbook recording a tour in central and southern France, with a few British views] [art original].
  • Production: [France and England], 1827-1841.

Catalog Record

82 827Sk

Acquired October 2019

Britannia’s support of the conspirators defeated

“The Prince of Wales …, sword in hand, gallantly protects Britannia against the attack of three conspirators: Pitt raises a headsman’s axe in both hands; Grafton, holding a conspirator’s lantern, is about to strike her with a dagger; Richmond … fires a musket, resting one knee on a cannon. The Prince wears a coronet with three ostrich feathers, he holds out his shield behind Britannia, who cowers towards him in terror.”–British Museum online catalogue, description of the print for which this is the original drawing.

  • CreatorRowlandson, Thomas, 1756-1827, artist.
  • TitleBritannia’s support of the conspirators defeated [art original].
  • Production[England], [1789]

Catalog Record

Drawings R79 no. 14 Framed

Acquired November 2017

Shipload of seasick Opposition savants

Date from Draper Hill, who suggests that the drawing is a preliminary for one of the illustrations for the abandoned de luxe edition of Poetry of the Anti-Jacobin.

  • Creator: Gillray, James, 1756-1815, artist.
  • TitleShipload of seasick Opposition savants, or, A Margate hoy.
  • Production[England], [ca. 1800]

Catalog Record 

Drawings G41 no.6

Acquired October 2017