print;
satirical print
- Museum number
- 1867,0112.22
- Title
- Object: The centaur-ian manager.
- Description
-
Plate from the 'Satirist', ix. 253. Kemble, as a centaur, serves as mount for Mrs. Siddons. He is in profile to the left, with bare arms extended to a troupe of performing dogs and cats to whom he says: "I will engage you all for the present Season and—methinks I shall do well, to engage the Devil to play Lewis's Wood Daemon [see No. 10796]." The animals are on their hind-legs, fashionably dressed; beside them squats an ape dressed as a man, and behind them stands a satyr-like Devil holding a trident. Under Kemble's arm is a book: 'Emendations of Shakespeare by I. P. K.' Under his hoofs are large open books with blank pages and a bust portrait of 'Shakespeare', the face torn in half. Mrs. Siddons is a tragedy queen, with a small crown on the back of her head; she raises a dagger and spills the contents of a goblet. Behind the centaur's kicking hind-legs lies Comedy on her back, a young woman holding up a smiling-mask. Harlequin kneels at her feet, flourishing his wooden sword; a Pierrot stoops over her head, flapping the sleeves that descend over his hands. Behind him and on the extreme right two asses on their hind-legs are conferring; they hold between them '[The] Managers Last Kick'. Both wear clothes, one being fashionably dressed with an opera-hat under his arm.
1 October 1811
Etching and aquatint
- Production date
- 1811
- Dimensions
-
Height: 198 millimetres
-
Width: 370 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M. Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', IX, 1949)
A satire on the equestrian performances at Covent Garden. These began with a revival of 'Blue Beard' on 18 Feb. 1811, with a troop of sixteen horses ridden by Spahis who storm the castle. It was very popular but was denounced as a disgraceful lowering of the dignity of the theatre for the sake of money. Genest, viii. 231 f.; 'Europ. Mag.' lx. 131 f.; the 'Satirist', viii. 331 f., 532-5. Its success led to the introduction of horses in 'Timour the Tartar', see No. 11772; the vogue for equestrian displays and the neglect of the great dramatists were satirized in the 'Manager's Last Kick', see No. 11762; cf. No. 13041. Kemble published adaptations of many of Shakespeare's plays, including 'Hamlet', 'Lear', and 'Macbeth'. He was attacked in the 'Satirist', viii. 356-7, for having 'mercilessly mangled' 'Henry V' in his production of 25 Mar. 1811. For performing dogs cf. No. 11079.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1867
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1867,0112.22