drawing;
print study
- Museum number
- 1868,0808.6381
- Description
-
The heads of George III and Pitt, much caricatured, emerge from a single neck which rests on a dish. The King's head, in profile to the left, is the larger, his wig covers both foreheads, and his cheek and ear project over the head of Pitt, who is in profile to the right. The King has a small, receding forehead, a large goggling eye, Pitt a fixed and frowning stare. Cf. BMSat 9177. 1797
Pen and black ink and watercolour
- Production date
- 1797
- Dimensions
-
Height: 323 millimetres
-
Width: 279 millimetres (irregular)
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VII, 1942)
The design was engraved and published by Newton, 5 May 1797. (A. de Rothschild collection ii. 91.)
A copy, 'La Tête et la Cervelle', was published 'A Paris chez J. Loysel Rue du Plâtre St Jacques N° 18'. The heads are closely copied, but a realistic coat-collar replaces the dish and neck. Inscriptions have been added: 'George' and 'Pit', while the former says: "La Paix Continentale Ouf!!!"; the latter: "S'il n étoit qu'imbecile - mais fou - ahi ahi comment m'en retirerai je ?" Beneath the design: 'Portraits dessiné [sic] d'après nature au Palais de St James'. Reproduced, Broadley, ii. 26.
The design was imitated in a print with the same title, published by Vowles, 1820, of George III and Queen Caroline ('Caricatures', xii. 159).
(Supplementary information)
Study for a satirical print published by Newton on 5.5.1797 (Alexander 249). The title implies that Pitt was the brains behind the King. For the French copy see Pascal Dupuy, 'Caricatures Anglaises, collections du m.Musée Carnavalet', Paris 2008, cat.40.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1998 Feb-May, Manchester, Whitworth AG, Richard Newton
2014 May-Oct, Hannover, W Busch Mus, 'Hanoverians'
2018 -2019, 6 Sep - 20 Jan, London, BM, G35, I Object
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1868,0808.6381
