- Museum number
- 1849,1003.54
- Title
- Object: The Funeral of Faction
- Description
-
Satire on the opposition to Robert Walpole suggesting that political faction had died with the failure of the motion for his dismissal. A funeral procession is led by men holding banners with the names of opposition journals: the Craftsman, topped by a fools-cap, a book lettered, "Terrae Filius" (Nicholas Amhurst's satire on Oxford tories, 1721), a pen and pen-knife; the Daily Post; the Champion with a hand holding a club; the London Evening Post with a bust; Common Sense. Then comes a priest in a jesuit's cap, reading from a book, followed by the heavily draped coffin lettered, "Faction dy'd of a Disappointment feb: ye 13 1741. Aetatis 21" and borne aloft by mourners, one of whom carries Bolingbroke's "[A Dissertation up]on parties"; a weeping widow, heavily veiled, and further mourners; Discord flies away above carrying an inverted torch. In the foreground, Walpole and three supporters laugh gleefully; a grinning satyr holds a noose; dog howls; a ballad seller offers, "The last Dying Speeches"; a skull and bones lie on the ground labelled, "MEMENTO L[ords] 108 59 C[ommons] 290 106" (the votes against and for the motion); Richard Glover, author of Leonidas, holds chamois gloves for mourners; Samuel Sandys, calling "Halt Halt", gestures to "The Family Vault" dedicated to earlier rebel leaders, "Wat Tyler, Jack Straw, Kit the Tanner, Jack Cade". Lettered below, "Funerals perform'd by Squire S[an]ds and the best Shammy Gloves by Leonidas"; three columns of verse in letterpress describing the vote in parliament and the grief of the Old Pretender ("Perkin" Warbeck) at the loss of the motion. 1741
Etching
- Production date
- 1741
- Dimensions
-
Height: 205 millimetres (etching)
-
Height: 307 millimetres (printed area)
-
Width: 326 millimetres (etching)
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- The broadside refers to a motion to address the Crown for the dismissal of Sir Robert Walpole. In the House of Lords a motion was made by Lord Carteret, supported by the Duke of Argyll and Bishop Smalbroke. In the House of Commons, the motion was made by Sandys, supported by Dodddington, Lyttelton, Pulteney, etc. The motion was defeated in the House of Commons in February 1741.
The print was advertised in the London Daily Post, 1 April 1741, "This Day is publish'd, Price 6d. The Funeral of Faction. A very Melancholy Print. G-d knows"; it
The preliminary drawing by Gravelot was sold at Sotheby's, London, on 18 April 1994, Lot 233.
Richard Glover earned the sobriquet "Leonidas" from his nine volume oppposition epic (1737) likening Frederick, Prince of Wales, to the Spartan king.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1849
- Acquisition notes
- 1849,1003.1 to 100 were purchased by A E Evans at the 3rd part of the Stowe sale (collection of the Duke of Buckingham) on 7-8 August 1849. The lots purchased were 258, 261, 266-7, 269-70, 273 (all of caricatures), and lot 24 (sea fights)
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1849,1003.54
