print; satirical print

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Object Type: print; satirical print
Museum number: 2001,0520.26
Title: Object: A Will o' th' Wisp; or Jack o' Lantern!
Description: Satire: grotesque lantern-carrying ghost being chased by man and old woman in churchyard at night. 9 June 1795 Hand-coloured etching and aquatint
Producer name: Print made by: Richard Newton; After: Richard Newton; Published by: William Holland
School/style
Production date: 1795
Production place: Published in: London (England)
Materials
Technique: etching; hand-coloured; aquatint
Dimensions: Height: 246 millimetres; Width: 349 millimetres
$Inscriptions
Curator's comments: In a later state the will o' the wisp's hair stands up higher and there are changes to the sky. See also Alexander 144 and 167. Will o' th' Wisp and Jack o' Lantern are popular names for ignis fatuus (foolish fire), a phosphorescence that flits over marshy ground due to the spontaneous combustion of gases from decaying vegetable matter and deludes people who try to follow it.
Bibliographic references: Alexander 1998 / Richard Newton and English caricature in the 1790s (169); BM Satires / Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum (undescribed)
Location: Not on display
Subjects: satire; ghost
Acquisition name
Funder name
Previous owner
Acquisition date: 2001
Department: Prints and Drawings
Registration number: 2001,0520.26
Conservation

Free entry