An angry, bare-breasted young woman in a night dress and cap enters the door of a sitting room from a bedroom (seen through the open door on the right). She scowls at the white-haired man relaxed in an armchair in front of a fire; he smokes a pipe and holds a goblet of wine in his left hand as he leans back in the chair, his feet resting on the grate of the roaring fire; at his elbow a table with a lit candle, carafe, jug, spoon, and book "Miseries of Human Life". One dog sleeps near a gun propped up against the mantel piece; a hunting cap hangs on back wall. Another dog looks at the woman from under the table at the man's side and barks. A large cat that has come in with the woman hisses back at him. A book on the mantel is titled "Rule a wife and have a wife"; the painting above the mantel "Mr. Pantons grey mare ranter out of doll tearsheet." In front of the and to the right are a bootjack and discarded boots pants; a clock hangs on the wall above a tiered table.
Description:
Not in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires. and Title etched below image.
Subject (Name):
Ackermann, Rudolph, 1764-1834, publisher., Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., and Harvey, Francis--Ownership.
"Two men sit in a dilapidated room, the floor completely covered by water in which three pigs wade, ducks swim and dive, and geese run aggressively towards a dog. Their feet rest on boulders. One stout man in a broken chair sits with his elbows on a small round table, holding up a large watch, the hands showing that it is 9.40, and yawning deeply. On the table are a decanter containing a tiny 'blue devil', cf. British Museum Satires No. 8745, and a guttering candle stuck in a potato at which a rat is nibbling. Another rat runs up the table leg. The other man (right), with closed eyes, and hands on knees, sits on a stool, registering melancholy resignation. One pig (left) devours a 'Racing Calendar' which floats on the water. A fire of sticks burns smokily on a wide hearth; a large pot is overturning, the contents gushing over. Above the chimney-piece hangs a picture in a broken frame of a country house. There is one small casement window, half boarded up, the other half partly stuffed up with a pair of breeches. A ham and a hare hang from hooks in the ceiling. High up on the wall is a small shelf on which is broken china; a cat stands on it."--British Museum online catalogue.
Description:
Possibly etched after a design by Bunbury; see British Museum catalogue. and Title etched below image.
Publisher:
H. Humphrey, No. 27 St. James's Street
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Bunbury, Henry William, 1750-1811, attributed name., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., and Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher.
"Four designs, each with a title, the plate divided into four quarters. [1] 'John Bull Happy'. A cottage interior: John Bull, a stout countryman with wrinkled gaiters as in BMSat 7889, 8141, dozes serenely in an arm-chair before a blazing fire, holding a pitcher on his knee. Behind (left), his wife sits spinning; two little boys feed a bird in a wicker cage. A pretty young woman approaches the open door with a milk-pail on her head. Brass utensils are ranged on the chimney-piece, beside which is a roasting-jack with wheel and chain. A well-fed cat and dog sleep amicably by the fire. [2] 'John Bull going to the Wars'. John Bull has enlisted and marches off (left to right) beside a file of soldiers with drawn sabres, the man next him blowing a bugle. He marches with awkward energy, gazing proudly in profile to the right, not to see his wife and children (left), who cling to him, weeping. He holds a musket and is dressed as in [1], with the addition of a grenadier's cap and bandolier. Behind (left) is a corner of his cottage. [3] 'John Bull's Property in danger'. John Bull's wife, followed by her three children, approaches the stone gateway of the Treasury, its iron gate open, the three balls of a pawnbroker above it, the inscription 'Money Lent by Authority'. Beside it are two bills: 'Wanted a Number of Recruits to serve abroad' and 'List of Bankrupts John Bull'. The woman carries her spinning-wheel and a bundle of household goods; the smallest boy, holding his mother's petticoat, carries the bird-cage; the girl carries the churn and a bowl. The elder boy carries spade, rake, and pitchfork (a kettle slung to the prongs) and leads a pig. [4] 'John Bull's glorious Return'. A gaunt, one-legged, and one-eyed soldier (right), in tattered uniform, limps on crutches into a miserable hovel in which his starving family crouch over a fire lit on the hearth. The little boy clutches a bare bone; onions and a broken dish are on the floor (cf. BMSat 8145). Mother and sons are ragged and emaciated, the daughter has a certain youthful grace. They look with frightened astonishment at their almost unrecognizable father."--British Museum online catalogue.
Alternative Title:
John Bull going to the wars, John Bull happy, John Bull's glorious return, and John Bull's property in danger
Description:
Four designs on one plate, each with a caption title. and Title etched below images.
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., and Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher.
Subject (Topic):
Cats., Dogs., Fireplaces., and John Bull (Symbolic character)