"George IV, dressed as Henry VIII and with cavalry boots decorated with rosettes, sits on the throne (right), shrinking angrily from oxen wearing civic gowns who bow, presenting petitions. All the horns of the oxen are tipped with tiny caps resembling caps of Liberty; a slightly larger pair protects the prongs of a fork held up on the extreme left above the massed heads of the beasts. On this a placard is speared: 'Petitions from every Part of the World--(Hole's and Corner's excepted) to Dismiss the Ministers-- signed by upwards of 999,999--Millions of the Brute Creation.' The petitions of the four beasts in the front row are headed: 'Petition of Lord Mayor & Citizens of London to Dismiss Ministers'; 'Petitions from every part of England & Wales to Dismiss Ministers &c &c &c'; '. . . ions from every Part of Scotland to Dismiss Ministers &c &c &c'; 'Petitions from every part of Ireland . . . [ut supra]'. Hooves rise from cattle behind holding more petitions: 'from Europe'; 'From Asia'; 'from Africa'; 'from America'; 'from every Honest Man'. The canopied throne is raised on a dais of three steps, the footstool is a cushion supported on a (carved) elephant; but the King's feet are drawn back. His right hand is on his hip; he holds an oddly shaped sceptre in the left hand. The back of the throne is framed by carved mannikins with shackled hands and feet; a large crown rests on the heads of the two uppermost. The back of the canopy has a pattern of writhing serpents. Ministers, much caricatured, stand on the right and left of the dais. In the foreground (right) and on the King's left, Wellington, with the apron and steel of a butcher (as in British Museum Satires No. 13288), with gauntlet gloves and with a star on his tunic, holds a blood-stained battle-axe. Sidmouth, as Court-fool, sits in profile to the left on an apothecary's mortar, wearing a double-peaked fool's cap and a star, and holding a bladder which is his clyster-pipe. Behind is Eldon, scowling savagely and holding the mace and the Purse of the Great Seal. A bishop holding a crosier stands on either side of the throne, behind the Ministers. A staff supports an emblematical cask which a naked Bacchus bestrides. On the King's right is Liverpool, holding a tall staff to which a green bag is tied (see British Museum Satires No. 13735). Next him is Castlereagh, blandly sinister, holding a scourge, and with a bunch of keys hanging from his belt; he stares at the petitioners. A tiny Vansittart is beside him, in his Chancellor of the Exchequer's gown, with an 'X' on his breast above a chequered pattern, hung diamond-wise. Immensely fat and absurd beefeaters stand along the back of the room under quasi-Gothic windows of stained glass. All hold tridents and turn their eyes towards the petitioners, grinning grotesquely. Each window is centred by an escutcheon on which a decanter is the chief object. The upper part of each is filled by a design of three large peacock's feathers (see British Museum Satires No. 13299). The Gothic roof, caricaturing that at Carlton House (cf. British Museum Satires No. 11727), is filled with tracery in the form of antlers."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched above image., Text below image: Historical fact, King Henry VIII, being petitioned to dismiss his ministers & council, by the citizens of London & many boroughs, to releive [sic] his oppressed subjects, made the citizens this sagacious reply: "We, with all our cabinet, think it strange that ye, who be but brutes, & inexpert folk, shd. tell us who be & who be not fit for our council." Vide La Belle Assemblée for October 1820, p. 151., and Mounted on page 33 of: George Humphrey shop album.
Publisher:
Pubd. by G. Humphrey, Feby. 14, 1821, 27 St. James's Street
Subject (Geographic):
England.
Subject (Name):
George IV, King of Great Britain, 1762-1830, Eldon, John Scott, Earl of, 1751-1838, Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of, 1769-1852, Liverpool, Robert Banks Jenkinson, Earl of, 1770-1828, Sidmouth, Henry Addington, Viscount, 1757-1844, Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, Viscount, 1769-1822, Vansittart, Nicholas, 1766-1851, Henry VIII, King of England, 1491-1547., and Dionysus (Greek deity)
Subject (Topic):
Politicians, Boots, Thrones, Oxen, Bowing, Petitions, Liberty cap, Pitchforks, Podiums, Crowns, Scepters, Butchers, Fools & jesters, Mortars & pestles, Medical equipment & supplies, Ceremonial maces, Bishops, Bags, Whips, Honor guards, and Windows
Title etched above image., Date and place of publication supplied by curator., In margin upper right: No.IX., Trimmed within plate right margin., and This electronic record is derived from historic data and may not reflect our current information. Review and updating of records is ongoing.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Topic):
Smallpox vaccine, Anti-vaccination movement, Vaccination, Smallpox, Physicians, Children, Communicable diseases, Oxen, Donkeys, Medical equipment & supplies, and Chariots
Title etched above image., Date and place of publication supplied by curator., In margin upper right: No.IX., Trimmed within plate right margin., This electronic record is derived from historic data and may not reflect our current information. Review and updating of records is ongoing., and Uncolored.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Topic):
Smallpox vaccine, Anti-vaccination movement, Vaccination, Smallpox, Physicians, Children, Communicable diseases, Oxen, Donkeys, Medical equipment & supplies, and Chariots
Watercolor drawing depicting a bovine, probably an ox.
Description:
Title from local catalog card., Unsigned; artist unidentified., Place and date of production based on the country of residence and death date of Richard Bull, who owned and likely assembled the album in which this drawing was found., Formerly laid in at page 63 in an album containing 402 pages, bound in red morocco leather with single gilt ruled line; spine stamped in gold "Drawings." Now disassembled and matted separately: Bull, R. Scrapbook of drawings. [England], [not after 1806]., Matted to 49 x 37 cm., and Original case shelved separately.
