print;
satirical print
- Museum number
- 1868,0808.5003
- Title
- Object: The political weathercock
- Description
-
Charles Fox as a weathercock. He lies prone and rigid, his waistcoat resting on a pinnacle which rises from a castellated tower from whose embrasures project cannon. His left arm and left leg are outstretched; in his left hand is a large money-bag inscribed "£/12:000 for making a noise". On his back rests another bag inscribed, "£/11:000" for holding my Tongue"; on the mouth of this bag rests a pack of cards showing the deuce of spades, across this lies a dice-box. This represents the upper part of the pivot of the weathercock.
His right hand is thrust in his shirt frill, his right leg is raised vertically from the knee, and receives the blast of North wind directed at the weathercock from the mouth of Lord North, whose head appears among clouds in the upper right corner of the print. Fox's face, much caricatured, is turned to the spectator; on one side are the words "Against the People", on the other "for the people". The four points of the compass are indicated by dice. Only the summit of the stone tower is visible, and the title is engraved across it. 10 May 1783
Etching
- Production date
- 1783
- Dimensions
-
Height: 134 millimetres
-
Width: 177 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', V, 1935)
Cf. also BMSat 6207, &c. In the manner of Colley or of his imitator. See BMSat 6117.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1868,0808.5003
