"Death, a skeleton with the head of the King, crowned and wearing royal robes, stands full face; in the right hand he holds up a paper: 'Pains and Penalties'; in the left hand is a javelin. Round the left leg coils a serpent, in place of the Garter, inscribed 'Honi Pense'. Under the left foot is a paper: 'Divorce'. The figure is framed by heavy clouds, from which dart lightning flashes."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Prosecutor of Her Majesty
Description:
Title etched below image., Two lines of quoted text below title: "What seemed his head, the likeness of a kingly crown had on? Who shrouds this mysterious being, this retiring phantom, this uncertain shape?" Mr. Brougham, vide Times Octr. 20th., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., 1 print : etching and soft-ground etching ; sheet 34.9 x 24.3 cm., Printed on wove paper; hand-colored., Mounted to 58 x 39 cm., Mounted on leaf 1 in volume 2 of the W.E. Gladstone collection of caricatures and broadsides surrounding the "Queen Caroline Affair.", and Figure of "George IV" identified in pencil on mounting sheet below print; date "Oct. 1820" written in ink beneath lower right corner of image. Typed extract of eleven lines from the British Museum catalogue description is pasted beneath print.
Publisher:
Published October 1820 by John Fairburn, Broadway, Ludgate Hill, London
Subject (Name):
George IV, King of Great Britain, 1762-1830, Caroline, Queen, consort of George IV, King of Great Britain, 1768-1821., and Brougham and Vaux, Henry Brougham, Baron, 1778-1868.
Subject (Topic):
Death (Personification), Skeletons, Crowns, Robes, Spears, Snakes, and Lightning
"William IV, as Mars, in Roman armour, stands defiantly in a war-chariot drawn by three galloping horses, ridden by Discord, a virago with serpents for hair, who brandishes a handful of serpents. He holds a shield inscribed 'Signed Protocols', and a levelled spear; on his helmet is a dragon with gaping jaws. The chariot advances upon terrified Dutch soldiers (left), who flee; one drops his musket, but one on the extreme left (William I) stands firm beside the muzzle of a cannon and glares at the King with an obstinate scowl. They have high-crowned hats, with a ribbon inscribed 'Orange'. Facing the chariot-horses (left) are a menacing Russian bear and a Prussian Death's Head hussar with a levelled blunderbuss. Discord, looking sideways at the Prussian though turning away from him, says: 'A word in your Ear! there's nothing meant, its all show just to frighten these Dutchmen a little'. Under the chariot is a document inscribed 'Treatys'; the wheel is about to collide with a large stone inscribed 'Ireland', on which the features of O'Connell are faintly suggested. Behind the chariot are three Furies, with serpents for hair, and holding firebrands and bunches of serpents. Rushing forward, they urge the King on; they are (left to right) Grey, Durham, and Brougham. As a background to the chariot a swarm of countless frogs (French soldiers) is dimly suggested; they rush forward, with a tricolour flag. On the front of the chariot perches a Gallic cock. In the foreground (right) stands John Bull, stout and spectacled; he clutches his 'Reform Bill', and gapes up in horror, saying, 'Hey dey here's a bobbery, just as I was going to look over my Reform Bill quietly, what do they mean not to go to war sure now,!! after suffering Poland to be annihilated & Germany trampled on, Oh nonsense! Nonsense'."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title from text below image., Printmaker from British Museum online catalogue., Publisher from publisher's statement "Published on the first of every month by Thos. McLean, 26 Haymarket, London" on first page of magazine; date of publication from series numbering "Vol. 3rd, Novr. 1st, 1832" on first page of magazine. See British Museum catalogue., Fourth page of a monthly magazine that consisted of four pages., and Imperfect; sheet trimmed resulting in loss of series title and numbering from top edge.
Publisher:
T. McLean
Subject (Name):
William IV, King of Great Britain, 1765-1837, William I, King of the Netherlands, 1772-1843, O'Connell, Daniel, 1775-1847., Brougham and Vaux, Henry Brougham, Baron, 1778-1868, Grey, Charles Grey, Earl, 1764-1845, Durham, John George Lambton, Earl of, 1792-1840, and Mars (Roman deity)
Subject (Topic):
John Bull (Symbolic character), Armor, Chariots, Snakes, Shields, Spears, Firearms, Soldiers, Dutch, Prussian, National emblems, Bears, Frogs, and Roosters
"Five ugly and elderly members of the Royal Society are seated in arm-chairs at a rectangular dinner-table. A footman (right) is about to place on the table a dish containing an alligator. The head of a strange horned beast is the chief dish on the table; there is also a frog on a plate. Banks (left) gnaws a serpent which he holds in both hands. The two walls of the room are closely covered with stuffed specimens and butterflies, insects, &c, in cases. The former include a sow, a goose, three owls, a deformed human skeleton. Two dogs gnaw bones."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title from British Museum catalogue., Attributed to Rowlandson by Grego., Date of publication based on that of the volume in which the print appears., Frontispiece to: Pindar, P. Peter's prophecy, or, The president and poet ... London : Printed by G. Kearsley ..., [1788], Sheet trimmed within plate mark., and Mounted on leaf 72 of volume 2 of 14 volumes.
