- Museum number
- 1868,0808.10319
- Title
- Object: The triumph.
- Description
-
A fantastic representation of Humphries after his fight with Mendoza at Odiham on 9 Jan. 1788. Distinguished amateurs chair (left to right) Humphries who sits with his hands on his hips looking down with a scowl at Mendoza (left), who reclines, very sick. The two foremost supporters of Humphries' chair are the Prince of Wales waving his hat, and a stout butcher who puts his right arm round the Prince's waist. Behind them (left) is a man in a furred civic gown (? Alderman Newnham) and a cheering (?) sailor, of grotesque appearance. On the left is a group of Jews: one, with the appearance of a rabbi, supports Mendoza, pointing over his shoulder to Lord George Gordon, who stands behind, reading from the 'Talmud'. Another kneels beside Mendoza, tending his wounds. All four have beards. In front of the procession (right) marches George Hanger, turning his head to watch the Prince. In his right hand is his shillelagh, in his left he supports a large banner on which is a picture of Humphries sparring, in a crouching attitude, with the inscription: 'Long live Humphries the Victorious, who in a bloody fight overcame the 12 Tribes of Israel Hallelu. Halle.' On a mound behind Hanger, Major Topham stands facing the procession blowing a trumpet from which issue the words 'The Hero of the World!' In his left hand is a newspaper headed 'Fashionable Advertiser', with the imprint 'J. Bell & Co.' (see BMSat 7211). A woman stands on the extreme right gazing admiringly at Humphries, while behind Topham a cheering crowd receding in perspective watches the procession. Beneath the design is engraved: 'Lo he was sorely bruised & much dismayed for he had been dealt heavily with; then came certain of his Tribe & minister'd unto him, among the rest a Man named G: Moses [Gordon] lately a Convert to their faith. And many of the chief Men of the Land assembled on this Occasion, & the Magistrates of the City; so that there was a great Multitude, yea verily a mixed Multitude, & they rent the Air with shouts & Acclamations'. 17 January 1788
Etching
- Production date
- 1788
- Dimensions
-
Height: 325 millimetres
-
Width: 471 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VI, 1938)
There are several prints of this famous fight, one by Gillray, 18 Jan. 1788, is entitled 'Foul Play, or Humphreys and Johnson a Match for Mendoza', in which the intervention of Johnson, Humphries's second, is represented as saving Humphries. (In Print Room.) See Rubens, Nos. 189, 191, 192, 192 A, 193. The Prince and Hanger exult at the discomfiture of the Jews as representing money-lenders. 'The Odiad . . .', 1788, describes the scene after the battle much as in this print: Mendoza tended by his 'chap-fall 'n brethren':
'The gaping Throng their Christian Champion view;
On their broad brawny Backs the Victor raise.
Amidst the Thunder of a Mob's Huzzas.'
This was the occasion of Humphries's famous message to his patron: 'Sir, I have done the Jew and am in good health.' See Miles, 'Pugilistica', 1880, i. 86-8. Cf. BMSat 7269.
Rubens, No. 190 (reproduction).
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1868,0808.10319
