In a richly decorated and carpeted interior, an obese clergyman with his equally large, bespectacled wife sit at a dining table with their three children; on the back wall hangs a portrait of the clergyman. He raises a wineglass to his lips as a servant uncorks another bottle of wine.
Drawings D574 no. 6 Framed
Acquired October 2020
“Companion plate to British Museum Satires no. 13988. Seated on a sofa, the Queen, wearing a large feathered hat, receives the news of the dropping of the Bill; beside her is a paper: ‘Bill of Pains Thrown out’. Alderman Wood, in a furred gown more elegant than civic, capers before her, holding up his arms, snapping his fingers, and grinning with delight. The Queen looks up at him, with a gesture of surprised satisfaction; she is caricatured, but better characterized than in other prints, resembling the description given by Creevey of her appearance at the trial on 17 Aug. She sits facing a long scroll on which names of places presenting Addresses are inscribed (see British Museum Satires no. 13934, &c.): ‘London’ (in large letters), ‘Westminster’, ‘So[uthwark]’. On the wall behind her is a (flattering) bust portrait of Bergami, wearing his decorations (see British Museum Satires no. 13810). In the doorway (left) are the leading members of a body of proletarian addressers; the foremost, with the curved shin-bones known as ‘cheesecutters’ which resulted from rickets, holds a paper: ‘Address to the Queen’; they are received by a thin, sour-looking lady, evidently Lady Anne Hamilton. They have two banners: ‘Queer Fellows’ and ‘St Gi[les]’, but among them is the profile of Hobhouse, the radical M.P. for Westminster. Over the wide doorway is a picture or relief of two little puppets on a string: the King and Queen performing antics while the string is pulled by a fiddler and another man, watched by two bystanders. The room (in Brandenburgh House) is ornately furnished; a heavy curtain is draped round a pillar.”–British Museum online catalogue.
820.11.00.02
Acquired March 2017
George IV, looking into a full length mirror, is startled by the sight of the likeness of his estranged wife, Caroline looking back at him over the shoulder of his reflection in the mirror. He wears a crown, his coronet and feathers discarded on the floor beside him. The carpet, chair, and table-cloth are decorated with the Royal Arms.
Catalog Record & Digital Collection
820.02.11.01
Acquired July 2007