print;
satirical print
- Museum number
- 1872,1012.4929
- Title
- Object: John Bull playing on the base villain
- Description
-
A reissue, Roberts's imprint almost obliterated. John Bull sits holding against his knee Napoleon, an elongated puppet, in the position of a bass viol (viol da gamba). His left hand holds the elongated neck; in his right. is a sword, which he draws like a bow across his instrument's body. Napoleon is in profile, facing John, his mouth wide open, as if throttled; he holds a sword limply in his left hand. He wears military uniform with large feathered bicorne. John's hat and wig lie on the ground; he is a prosperous 'cit' in old-fashioned dress, and looks towards the spectator with a satisfied smile. 'Britons strike home' is engraved above his head. Cf. BMSats 11032, 11702. 1803 as re-issued by Tegg in 1807
Hand-coloured etching
- Production date
- 1803
- Dimensions
-
Height: 337 millimetres
-
Width: 254 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VIII, 1947)
Broadley, i. 254. Van Stolk, No. 5982 d (vii. 356). 'Caricatures', xi. 12.
(Supplementary information)
A Tegg re-issue on 1 January 1807 of a Roberts plate of 1803.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1872
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1872,1012.4929