Images(2)

The Politician

DateMay 2, 1771

Publisher Sarah Sledge (fl. 1771 - 1781)

After work by Samuel Hieronymus Grimm

OriginEngland, London

MediumBlack and white line engraving

DimensionsPlate OH: 14 1/4" x OW: 10"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1939-234

DescriptionLower margin reads: "The POLITICIAN./ Done from the ORIGINAL DRAWING by S.H. GRIMM./ Printed for S. Sledge Printseller, in Henrietta Street Covent Garden. Publish'd as the Act directs 2.d May 1771."
Label TextPrint of man wearing spectacles with a gaping toothless mouth, sits draped in a sheet, while a French hair-dresser (nationality indicated by his bag-wig and ruffles) applies tongs to his hair, and appears to be whispering in his ear. At this, or on account of the Speaker's Warrant dated 27 Mar. 1771, to the Lieutenant of the Tower to receive the Lord Mayor into custody, which he holds in his hand, the Politician starts in alarm. In the center over the fireplace is an oval picture of Don Quixote tilting at a windmill. On the left hands a map of the Iberian Peninsula, on the right one of the British Isles. Hanging from a stool to the floor is an Accurate Map of the Falkland Is. over which a dog and cat are fighting. On the floor are also a Letter to the Premier, a Last dying Speech, A new Song on Liberty, a bundle of Junius's Letters and another of Votes. Open on a secretaire-book- case is a History of the Constitution with my own Remarks, apparently in course of com- position. A burst of Oliver Cromwell is on the top of the bookcase.