Sir Matthew Wood, naked except for the skin of the Nemean Lion, wields a club at the Hydra, which has four heads, saying "Down, down to Hell! / and say I sent thee thither". The nearest head (probably King George IV) says, "Thou shalt not / commit Adultery." The second (probably Bartolomeo Bergami) says, "Non mi ricordo!" The third head, wearing a judge's wig and collar, has no speech bubble, but printed beside beside its profile is "Bill of Pains &c." The fourth head is unidentified, and silent, as is a shadowy fifth at the bottom right. Another unidentified head rests at the center bottom of the image; Wood is either standing on or just behind it.
Alternative Title:
Alderman Wood in the character of Hercules : encountering the Hydra!
Description:
Title from text below image., Not in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum., Mounted to 58 x 39 cm., Mounted on leaf 14 in volume 2 of the W.E. Gladstone collection of caricatures and broadsides surrounding the "Queen Caroline Affair.", and Letters "oo" added in ink to the blank spaces in title to spell out the censored name "Wood." Figure of "George IV" identified in pencil below image. The note "Suppressed" and the date "Nov. 1820" are written in ink in lower right.
Publisher:
Published by Benbow, 269 Strand
Subject (Name):
Wood, Matthew, Sir, 1768-1843, George IV, King of Great Britain, 1762-1830, Bergami, Bartolomeo Bergami, Baron, Caroline, Queen, consort of George IV, King of Great Britain, 1768-1821, and Hercules (Roman mythological character)
Subject (Topic):
Hydra (Greek mythology), Clubs (Weapons), and Adultery
Title from item., Place and date of publication from British Museum catalogue., Imperfect; statement of responsibility erased from sheet. Missing text supplied from impression in the British Museum., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., Temporary local subject terms: Lightning bolts -- Thunder -- Stephen Fox, 2nd Baron Holland., and Mounted to 20 x 14 cm; mounted again to 25 x 25 cm.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Name):
Bute, John Stuart, Earl of, 1713-1792, Grafton, Augustus Henry Fitzroy, Duke of, 1735-1811, Mansfield, William Murray, Earl of, 1705-1793, Pitt, William, Earl of Chatham, 1708-1778, Rockingham, Charles Watson-Wentworth, Marquis of, 1730-1782, and Temple, Richard Grenville-Temple, Earl, 1711-1779
Subject (Topic):
Hydra (Greek mythology), Britannia (Symbolic character), Lightning, Clouds, Shields, and Crutches
