print
- Museum number
- 1839,1012.115
- Title
- Object: Village Politicians
- Description
-
Simple interior, with several men sitting around a wooden table, one on the right with a paper on his knee, another opposite him vigorously making a point, others standing around a fire in the right background, also talking eagerly, while a child next to them holds her bread and butter out of the reach of an inquisitive dog; after Wilkie. 1814
Etching and engraving on chine collé
- Production date
- 1814
- Dimensions
-
Height: 507 millimetres
-
Width: 625 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- For an etched state dated 1812, see 1839,0413.28.
See also 1850,0810.2: Samuel William Reynolds originally intended to engrave this subject. According to Raimbach's Memoirs (p.112), he and Wilkie bought the rights to the subject off Reynolds for 100 guineas. It was the first in a long collaboration between Wilkie and Raimbach, from 1812 to the painter's death in 1841, sparked by dissatisfaction between Wilkie and Burnet after Burnet's great success with the engraving of 'The Blind Fiddler'. The basic financial terms of their agreement were at first one-third of the profits to Wilkie, two-thirds to Raimbach, and later, on Wilkie's instigation, one-fourth with three-fourths to the engraver.
The painting, exhibited at the Royal Academy, London in 1806, is at Scone Palace, Perthshire.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1839
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1839,1012.115