print; satirical print

Please enable JavaScript in your web browser to get the best experience.

Object Type: print; satirical print
Museum number: 1858,0417.591
Title: Object: The True Effigies of the Members of the Calve's Head Club ...
Description: Satire on young Whig supporters and their supposedly republican tendencies: interior of a tavern with seven young gentlemen drinking at a table on which is a calf's head with a moustache and a nightcap; one of the party holds an axe; an eighth gentleman looks out of the window at a bonfire in the street below; on the wall is a picture of the execution of Charles I. 1735 Etching
Producer name
School/style
Production date: 1735
Production place: Published in: London (England)
Materials
Technique
Dimensions: Height: 203 millimetres; Width: 189 millimetres
$Inscriptions
Curator's comments: The original Calve's Head Club was said to be a republican secret society meeting in the 1690s, see Edward Ward, "The secret history of the Calve's Head Club" (1703, and later editions; the title page is BM Satires 1517). Stephens quotes a number of contemporary accounts of the convivial dinner of young aristocrats near Charing Cross on 30 January 1734/35 (the anniversary of the execution of Charles I) that aped the meetings of the earlier society, and of the disorder in the street outside when the mob discovered what was taking place: see Boyle's Chronology; Grub Street Journal, 30 January, 27 February and 6 March1734/35; Daily Advertiser, 31 January 1734/35; Read's Weekly Journal, 8 February 1734/35. See also BM Satires 2142.
Bibliographic references: BM Satires / Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum (2141); Paulson 1965/70 / Hogarth's graphic works: first complete edition (281.a)
Location: Not on display
Subjects: satire; tavern/inn; drunkenness; club; execution; fire
Associated names: Associated with: Charles I, King of England; Associated with: Oliver Cromwell; Representation of: Charles Sackville, 2nd Duke of Dorset; Representation of: Gustavus Hamilton, 2nd Viscount Boyne; Representation of: Sewallis Shirley; Representation of: Lord John Philip Sackville
Associated places: Topographic representation of: London
Acquisition name
Acquisition date: 1858
Department: Prints and Drawings
Registration number: 1858,0417.591
Conservation

Free entry

Opening hours