print;
satirical print
- Museum number
- 1868,0808.4057
- Title
- Object: The recruiting serjeant or Brittanniais happy prospect
- Description
-
Satire lampooning the attempt by Henry Fox to form a ministry supporting the Duke of Cumberland, with Fox, as a sergeant carrying a halberd, leading a recuiting party of disparate politicians: Welbore Ellis as a drummer, Lord Sandwich carrying a cricket bat, Bubb Doddington wearing a coat decorated with fleur-de-lis and Lord Winchilsea holding a rudder addressing a fleet carrying Hessian troops from England to Germany; in the background to right is a round temple, topped by the Hanoverian horse rearing above Britannia within is a statue of Cumberland as leader of British forces standing on a pedestal referring to recent failures in north America and the power of German states. 1757
Etching with hand-colouring
- Production date
- 1757
- Dimensions
-
Height: 196 millimetres
-
Width: 350 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- This print is often considered to be the first caricature applied to political satire.
Stephens quotes a letter from Horace Walpole to Horace Mann of 20 April 1757 in which he describes the print and notes that it had provoked a pamphlet against Townshend entitled 'The Art of Political Lying'.
The publication line gives Darly's address during the 1750s
See David Bindman, 'Hogarth and his times', BM 1997, cat.44, and Richard Godfrey, 'English Caricature 1620 to the Present', V&A 1984, cat.49.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1998 Jan-Apr, USA, Berkeley AM, Hogarth and his Times
1998 Jun-Aug, Ottawa, NGC, Hogarth and his Times
1998 Sep-Nov, USA, NY, Columbia Univ, Hogarth and his Times
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1868,0808.4057
