print;
satirical print
- Museum number
- 1865,1111.2126
- Title
- Object: The hostile press; and the consequences of crim. con. or Shakespeare in danger:
- Description
-
Kean, in the costume of Sir Giles Overreach, stands on the stage, indicated by a boarded floor surrounded by flame and smoke from the jaws of a semicircle of ferocious monsters, serpentine, scaly, and fanged, and with glaring eyeballs. The largest and most menacing is the Old Times, emitting Gall, Spite Venon [sic] Hypocricy. Towards this Kean directs his levelled rapier, saying, By the powers of Shakspeare, I defy ye all. He holds above his head a large open book: Shakspeare, which is irradiated. Almost as large as the 'Times' is the pendant to it: New Times, vomiting Hypocricy. The other monsters are not specified, they spit flames inscribed respectively: Spleen; Cant; Malignity; Slander; Spite; Envy; Malice; Nonsence; Oblique. After the title: "Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow— thou shalt not escape calumny."—Hamlet. February 1825.
Hand-coloured etching.
- Production date
- 1825
- Dimensions
-
Height: 295 millimetres
-
Width: 415 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M. Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', X, 1952)
Two appearances of Kean at Drury Lane (cf. No. 14865) are blended: his speech on 28 Jan., and his performance of Sir Giles Overreach on 31 Jan., which showed that he had to some degree dominated the outcry. He said: '. . . I stand before you as the representative of Shakespeare's heroes ... a professional victim. ... If it is done by a hostile Press, I shall endeavour to withstand it—if it is your verdict, I shall bow to your decision, remember with gratitude your former favours, and leave you.' Life of Kean, 1835, ii. 220-1. See No. 14710, &c. The Times went to incredible lengths in abuse of Kean. Playfair, Kean, 1939, pp. 245 ff.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1865
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1865,1111.2126