The fall of Icarus [graphic]

"Lord Temple, naked, wtth large feathered wings bound to his upraised arms, attempts to fly after his father, Buckingham, who is soaring upwards. But his wings are disintegrating; feathers, which are quill pens, fall from them, and he is about to descend heavily on to a viciously pointed stake which is planted in the cobbles of the roadway. His wings are splashed with red, i.e. with sealing-wax. The stake is inscribed 'Stake out of Public-Hedge!' Buckingham (as Daedalus), whom distance makes much smaller than his bulky nephew, is borne up on intact, outspread wings inscribed 'Tellership of \ the Exchequer'. His naked posteriors are grotesquely large. Both are lit by broad slanting beams from a sun in the upper right. corner of the design containing the heal of George III looking down with surprised severity at Temple. On the opposite side of the wide roadway is a handsome detached house, representing the Paymaster's house in Whitehall. A negro servant in livery stands at the door handing up a package to a man in a cart inscribed 'Stationary Office', which is piled with similar packages and bundles of pens. Clouds of black smoke rise from the chimneys but are deflected by the sun."--British Museum online catalogue