A celebration in a sporting club. In the center of the room before a large table, a man in a hat (with a black eye?) raises a gavel in an attempt to bring order as two members begin a fist-fight and others converse and laugh. One member restrains a woman as she attempts to hit a man on the head with a tankard; the man appears already unconscious and injured. Boxing gloves, tankards and glasses, hats, and a stick are scattered on the floor in the foreground. The room is lighted by the candles in a candelier. On the walls are a clock, two pictures of fighers -- one of Humphrys and the other of Mendoza; a broadside "Rules" (damaged); a broadside entitled "Last dying speech & confession of W[...]st the Boxer" with a picture of a gallows at the head; and, a picture of two men boxing (the pictures amplifying the subject). On the table are several tankards, wine glasses and punch bowl, smoking pipes, a broadsheet torn in two (World Diary), and a book "Rules for boxing"., Title and printmaker from British Museum catalogue., The left portion of the plate was later published as 'Frontispiece' (no date) in Carlton House magazine with the title: The ending of the old year., Sheet trimmed within plate mark, with loss of title, printmaker's signature, and partial loss of imprint., Plate from: The Attic miscellany, v. 1, p. 81., Title added in a contemporary hand on the mount below the image: Odd-Fellows-Lodge., and Mounted to 24 x 32 cm.
Publisher:
Published as the act directs, by Bentley & Co.
Subject (Name):
Topham, Edward, 1751-1820, Mendoza, Daniel, 1764-1836, and Humphries, Richard, d. 1827
