O’ the roast beef of old England…

description below

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.

 

  • Title: O’ the roast beef of old England &c. [graphic] / painted by W. Hogarth.
  • Publication: London : Printed for Robt. Sayer, No. 53 Fleet Street, [not before 1766]

Catalog Record

Hogarth 766.00.00.03+ Box 200

Acquired March 2020

The introduction of the Pope to the Convocation at Oxford

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“A satire on the approaching election for the Chancellorship of Oxford University. Grenville, dressed as a cardinal, heads a small procession towards the Devil, who wears a robe on which is a large cross, and holds the bland mask with which he has been hiding his face. Grenville, bowing low, and deferentially holding his large hat, holds out a paper: Catholic Petition for the vacant Chancellorship with a Plan for Erecting a New Popish Sanhedrim on the ruins of old Alma-Mater, The Devil says: Well done my Children! This is all the Convocation I would have; in his left hand is a pitchfork. The Marquis of Buckingham, dressed as a Jesuit, stands behind him, one hand on his shoulder, the other holding his barbed tail. Beside him is Canning (unrecognizable) wearing a Jesuit’s biretta. Beside the Devil is a greyhound with the head of Grey, its collar inscribed Popish Gray Hound. Immediately behind Grenville walks the Pope, wearing his tiara, and holding his cross; he holds up Grenville’s robe on which is a large cross. Napoleon crouches behind the Pope, holding on to his robes and hiding under his mantle. He wears a crown, with uniform and spurred boots; his hand is on the hilt of his sword. Behind walk together Temple, enormously fat and dressed as a monk, and his brother, Lord George Grenville, similarly dressed. The former carries the Host, the latter a lighted candle. In the background rows of bishops and clergymen face the procession. Bishops in the front row, humbly sweeping the ground with their mitres, bow low, each clasping a Mass Book, while those behind cheer with raised mortar-board, hand, or Mass Book. On five of the books are the names of bishoprics: York [Vernon], St Asaph [Cleaver], London [Randolph], Oxford [Moss], Norwich [Bathurst]. Above the design (and the bishops): Golgotha, i.e: the place of Skulls.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Gillray, James, 1756-1815, printmaker.
  • Title: The introduction of the Pope to the Convocation at Oxford by the Cardinal Broad-bottom [graphic] / Js. Gillray fect.
  • Publication: [London] : Publishd. by H. Humphrey, 27 St. James Street, London, Decr. 1st, 1809.

Catalog Record 

809.12.01.04+

Acquired January 2020