Grant, C. J. (Charles Jameson), active 1830-1852, printmaker
Published / Created:
March 26th, 1831.
Call Number:
831.03.26.01+
Image Count:
1
Resource Type:
still image
Abstract:
A satire on the electoral Reform Bill of 1831, which was passed soon after this print was issued. Grant shows the figure of blind Justice leaning out from a mass of billowing clouds and holding her scales labelled "Reform 1813". The load on the left side labeled "People', though containing fewer documents -- Magna Carta, Economy & Retrenchment, Peace of Plenty, Extension of the Electi[c] Franchise, Cheap Government -- is heavier than the other plate "Oligarchy" which is weighted down by: Bribes, Corruption, Six Acts, Corn Law, Church, Rotten Boroughs, Corporation Charters, Law & Iniquity, Taxes, Imposts, Holy Alliance, [F?]onal Debt. A group of four men in the left foreground include a judge; the one man says "Behold! a mere feather turns the ballance in our favour and saves us from revolution & disgrace." Just beyond them in the middle distance the King stands firmly and says "The triumph of this great & vital cause will fix my crown more firm upon my head." On the right a group of over six men including a clergyman who wipes his brow and cries "The draft is in their favor. Our cause is lost. Oh dictatorium, dictatorium, dic-". Another gentleman behind him cries "They may vainly recken on a paltry unit, we have yet power to rent it peicemeal [sic]." In the distance a crowd cheers, and some hold signs for "Reform" and "Support the King & his ministers", etc
Description:
Title etched below image., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., and Not in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires.
Publisher:
Pub. by John Fairburn, Broadway, Ludgate Hill
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain
Subject (Name):
William IV, King of Great Britain, 1765-1837 and Great Britain. Parliament
Subject (Topic):
Reform, Politics and government, Cabinet officers, Clergy, Crowds, Demonstrations, Judges, Justice, and Scales
Title from central prominent design., Date of publication from unverified data from local card catalog record., Captions from other scraps include: Tiger Lilly; Honorary members of the temperence society; 1st of September; "Alas poor ghosts!", Sheet trimmed within plate mark., and Not in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires.
Titles from captions below images., Printmaker and date of publication from later print in series., Four designs on one plate, each individually titled., Sheet trimmed within plate mark on right and left edges., and Not in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires.
Title from caption below center image., Artist from signature on other prints in the series., Five designs on one plate, each individually titled., One print in a series. Other prints in the series published with series title: The art of tormenting., Description based on imperfect impression; sheet mutilated in upper right corner with possible loss of plate number., and Not in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires.
Publisher:
Published Jany. 1831 by Chas. Tilt, 86, Fleet Street
Title from text above and below image., Text in speech bubble begins: Beg pardon, hope no offence ..., Description based on imperfect impression; most of the text in speech bubble has been erased and replaced with manuscript text., and Not in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires.
Title from caption below center image., Artist from signature on other prints in the series., Six designs on one plate, five of which have individual titles., One print in a series. Variant series name on one other print: General rules for the art of tormenting., Not in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires., and Temporary local subject terms: Stocks (Punishment).
Title from caption below center image., Artist from signature on other prints in the series., Six designs on one plate, five of which have individual titles., One print in a series. Variant series name on one other print: General rules for the art of tormenting., Not in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires., and Temporary local subject terms: Couples.
Title from caption below leftmost image in center of design., Ten designs on one plate, six of which have individual titles., One print in a series. Variant series name on one other print: General rules for the art of tormenting., Description based on imperfect impression; sheet trimmed within plate mark on lower edge and mutilated in upper right corner with possible loss of plate number., and Not in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires.
Publisher:
Published Jany. 1831 by Charles Tilt, 86 Fleet Street
Title from caption below image., Print signed using William Heath's device: A man with an umbrella., Imprint continues: ... where political and other caricatuers are daily pub., the largest collection of any house in London., and Not in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires.
"John Bull as a Chinese, in Chinese costume, hugely corpulent sits full-face in an arm-chair, legs extended, hands resting on the sides of his paunch. He looks to three doctors on the left, the foremost being Grey, who leans towards him, pointing to his colleagues (left), and saying suavely, 'This deformity is quite inconsistent, believe me, with the Nature of your Constitution & therefore must be got rid of, I will undertake with your approbation, to remove it & my assistant Doctor Russell here will prepare you for the Operation'. Lord John Russell, on the extreme left, speaks confidentially to Althorp who is in back view: 'I once thought that a case of this description ought to be treated with great caution and even wrote as well as talked a great deal about it, but now I am quite of a different opinion I think there is nothing like cutting away thro' thick & thin!' J. B.: 'I ca'nt say that my bodily health was ever better, or that I ever felt stronger tho' to be sure I am not growing younger; but then every one is telling me how deformed I am grown of late & this tumour which I have had from my infancy is all a Mass of Corruption'. On the right and slightly farther from the picture-plane, the rival doctors, Peel and Wellington, are in consultation. The Duke: 'I say the Man has no defect in his Constitution & that what they call corruption is necessary to his existance--but now because he would not believe me, but choses rather to submit to the experiments of these rash operators --Wharnecliffe who is a sensible Man lays all the blame on me'. Peel: 'Yet I begin to think we could have done better, when we found him determined to think that his Constitution was impaired, to have tried--just in the way of soothing, a gentle alterative Course'."--British Museum online catalogue, description of a variant state
Alternative Title:
John Bull and the doctors
Description:
Title from text below image., Print signed with the monogram "HB," which was used by John Doyle., Variant state lacking C. Motte's printer statement in lower right. Cf. No. 16666 in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires, v. 11., and Temporary local Medical Library subject terms: Politics, British.
Publisher:
Published by Thos. McLean, 26, Haymarket
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain and England.
Subject (Name):
Hoo Loo, 1799-1831., Grey, Charles, 2nd Earl, 1764-1845, Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of, 1769-1852, Peel, Robert, 1788-1850, Russell, John Russell, Earl, 1792-1878, Spencer, John Charles Spencer, Earl, 1782-1845, and Wharncliffe, James Archibald Stuart-Wortley, Baron, 1776-1845.
Subject (Topic):
Politics and government, John Bull (Symbolic character), Tumors, Surgery, Politicians, and Obesity