A satire on a recent performance of Timor the Tartar depicts a horde of Tartar horsemen, wearing turbans with aigrettes and holding scimitars, as they attack a classic Apollo figure who looks back with horror as he flees, his broken bow in his left hand and his helmet and quiver at his feet. They are lead in the attack by a lady on horseback and wearing medieval-style costume. Apollo appears to be punched in the head by a man in the background, wearing boxing gloves. On the right Kemble is about to thrust a piece labelled "Cocktail ginger" into the horse's rear as he lifts its tail. In the center foreground a man shoots a blunderbuss, which is supported by a pile of books with titles: American, New Musical Pieces, Shipwreck, etc. From the muzzle issue words and papers: Plan of new tragedy, Poetry for an oratorio, Remarks on light & shade, etc
Description:
Title from item., Plate from: The Satirist, viii, p. 453., Attributed to De Wilde in the British Museum catalogue., and Sheet trimmed within plate mark resulting in loss of imprint.
Publisher:
Published for the Satirist
Subject (Name):
Kemble, Charles, 1775-1854, Lewis, M. G. 1775-1818. (Matthew Gregory),, and Apollo (Deity)
A half-undressed Dr. Johnson in a dunce's cap and with a rope around his neck walks from left to right, driven by Apollo, who holds the other end of the rope, and the Muses with uplifted scourges and birch rods. On his cap are the names of the poets Johnson criticized. He carries a placard describing his guilt as an unjust critic. In the background, on the summit of Parnassus, can be seen a temple highlighted by the sun behind it, with Pegasus flying nearby
Description:
Title etched below image., Printmaker from British Museum catalogue., Text following title: * Vide, the last sermon at St. Dunstans., and Sheet trimmed within plate mark.
Publisher:
Pubd. July 29th, 1783, by Holland, No. 66 Drury Lane
Subject (Name):
Johnson, Samuel, 1709-1784 and Apollo (Deity)
Subject (Topic):
Muses (Greek deities), Poetry, History and criticism, and Whips
A scene in an artist's studio lit from an attic window (left). Four connoisseurs are grouped round a large canvas on an easel: an Apollo with a sheaf of arrows, head turned in profile to the left. The model is a tall black man in the pose of the Apollo but with very different features, the left hand holding the stick of a broom which supports the pose. A fifth connoisseur reaches up to alter the position of the model's head. The artist stands beside his canvas facing the invaders, the left hand, holding palette and brushes, rests on the canvas; he sucks his mahl-stick with a gloomy scowl. On the extreme right a cat sits in a cradle, behind which an alarmed little boy hides. The artist's wife, with an infant in her arms, faces the fire with her back to the visitors whose unwelcome intrusion is apparent. Behind is a bed with drawn curtains. Three casts from the antique decorate the bare room. The model's coat and hat lie on the ground (right). On the far left in the foreground a dog urinates against two canvases leaning against the wall
Alternative Title:
Assemblée des connisseurs
Description:
Titles in English and French etched below image. and Imperfect; sheet trimmed within plate mark with loss of all text from bottom edge. Missing text supplied from impression in the British Museum.
