Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level C , Case GG, Shelf 174

John Bull Making Observations on the Comet

Print
1807 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

General Description: John Bull Making Observations on the Comet (BM:S.10769). Caricature of John Bull looking through a telescope at a comet with the head of Napoleon, rising from a piece of land with a frog on it, towards the sun which has at its centre the head of George III. British. Lettered with title, inscribed with captions and Woodward Delin Rowlandson scul. London Printed for Thos. Tegg 111 Cheapside Price one Shilling Coloured: Numbered 274. Inscribed in pencil 1807. With the mark of the collection of Frank A. Gibson (d.1976) on the back.


Object details

Category
Object type
TitleJohn Bull Making Observations on the Comet
Materials and techniques
Etching and stipple engraving, coloured by hand
Brief description
Satirical print by Thomas Rowlandson entitled 'John Bull Making Observations on the Comet'. Great Britain, 1807.
Physical description
General Description: John Bull Making Observations on the Comet (BM:S.10769). Caricature of John Bull looking through a telescope at a comet with the head of Napoleon, rising from a piece of land with a frog on it, towards the sun which has at its centre the head of George III. British. Lettered with title, inscribed with captions and Woodward Delin Rowlandson scul. London Printed for Thos. Tegg 111 Cheapside Price one Shilling Coloured: Numbered 274. Inscribed in pencil 1807. With the mark of the collection of Frank A. Gibson (d.1976) on the back.
Dimensions
  • Cut to height: 25.3cm
  • Cut to width: 35.4cm
Cut to 25.3 x 35.4 cm
Credit line
Bequeathed by Frank A. Gibson
Object history
Notes: A comet had been visible in Great Britain in the autumn and winter of 1807. When this impression was printed, the publication date of 10th November, which appears, on the impression in the British Museum, had been erased from the plate.
Bibliographic reference
BM:S= British Museum: Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires. London, 1870-1954
Collection
Accession number
E.1244-1990

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Record createdFebruary 18, 2009
Record URL
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