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'.
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
