- Museum number
- 1868,0808.8429
- Title
- Object: The Judgment of Brutus- or the- dramatic censor. vide Deranged Intellect.
- Description
-
Kean as Brutus (left) sits in a (pseudo-) curule chair on a massive platform of Roman masonry addressing a ragged and emaciated author (right) who faces him defiantly. A fat man in modern dress stands behind Kean's chair, leaning over his shoulder to hold the chains attached to the collars, all inscribed 'Keen Wolf', of three wolves at Kean's left hand, all snarling savagely at the author. At Kean's right hand lies an absurd little lion, 'A Keen Lion', emaciated and maneless. The fat man is identified by a paper in his pocket: 'To Manag[er] Puff', showing that he is Rae. He and Kean are surrounded by clouds of smoke issuing from his mouth, and inscribed 'a stupid Puff', 'a silly Puff', 'A nonsensical Puff', 'A queer Puff', 'An Ostentatious Puff', 'A miserable Puff', 'A contemptible Puff', 'A stale Puff', 'A fresh Puff', 'A Bombastic Puff', 'A ridiculous Puff'. Kean's left foot rests arrogantly on a footstool. He extends both arms towards the poet in a gesture of negation, saying, "Your Play won't do—Its worse than Bad / "theres some pretty poetry in it to be sure, but / "altogether it's a d—d stupid production! the / "effects of Deranged Intellect". At his feet lies a scroll inscribed: "A lie—an Odious d—d Lie [. . . as in No. 13367]."
At the poet's feet is a paper: 'Plays by an Unfortuneate Buck', i.e. Charles Bucke. He holds out his play: 'The Italians a Rejected Play', saying to Kean: "You are so inflated by the Managers puffs / "that you forget yourself and assume an authority / "and tone of arrogance unbecoming your Situation— / "It is not fair acting for a player to presume to publish / "an opinion on the merits of a piece before it is perform'd / "it is a consumate piece of ignorance and / "an insult to the Public—" Under his left arm are other papers: 'The Cherokee Tragedy', 'Cons[olations of Boethius]'. From his pocket hangs a paper headed 'Chandler Shop Acct Roll . . . 1/2d', to show how destitute he is. The clouds of smoke issuing from the Manager extend behind Bucke, with three lengthy inscriptions: [1] 'That wonderfull and astonishing transcendant Genius Mr Kean has again delighted & petrified the audience by his powerfull delineation of Brutus & last night made such a vast addition to his histrionic fame that his enthusiastic admirers rose up with a simultaneous motion waving hats handkerchiefs & sticks in hysterical fits of rapture.' [2] 'Mr K—n was so GREAT in the DWARF of Naples, that description is beggar'd & the poverty of all human languages made palpable in not affording terms to convey the very smallest particle of an idea of his supernaturel Genius (poor Davy Garrick was thy panegyrist ever equal to this?).' [3] 'That prodigy of an Actor Mr K— will shortly appear in a New Character as the Bully in—"Bug-Bears for poor Authors.' After the title: "Hark thee, Fellow / "How art thou call'd / Brutus—A FOOL!!! / Brutus, Act 1st Scene 3d.'
1 April 1819
Hand-coloured etching
- Production date
- 1819
- Dimensions
-
Height: 247 millimetres
-
Width: 346 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M. Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', IX, 1949)
A satire on the dispute between Kean and Bucke, see No. 13367, &c. The play was performed on 3 Apr., with H. Kemble as Manfredo, the part which Kean had undertaken, but it was damned by Kean's partisans and only played twice to a riotous audience. The printed version went through many editions with (eventually) four prefaces by Bucke. Genest, viii. 686-7; 'Examiner', 1819, pp. 222-3, 238, 251. On 3 Dec. 1818, 'Brutus or the Fall of Tarquin', a plagiaristic compilation by Howard Payne, was acted for the first time, Kean playing Brutus, and according to Genest 'with success "vastly" beyond its merits' (viii. 677-81). Kean's acting was extolled in the 'Examiner' (1818, p. 774). The 'Dwarf of Naples', by Soame, with Kemble as the Dwarf was first played on 15 Mar. 1819, a play written for Kean, and dedicated to him 'in a stream of fulsome flattery'. Genest, viii. 685 f. For 'puffing' at Drury Lane see No. 12918; for the Wolves, No. 12919.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1868,0808.8429
