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The Political Hydra

Print
1806 (Published)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

A print depicting six heads of Charles James Fox. Out of place in character, in place out of character, as he might have been, as he would have been, as he should have been and as he will be.

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleThe Political Hydra (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Etching, coloured by hand
Brief description
Print, 'The Political Hydra' by Thomas Rowlandson, 1806
Physical description
A print depicting six heads of Charles James Fox. Out of place in character, in place out of character, as he might have been, as he would have been, as he should have been and as he will be.
Dimensions
  • Height: 24cm (sheet size)
  • Width: 35.5cm (sheet size)
Content description
Reissue of a caricature of Charles James Fox originally satirizing the Regency crisis and now satirizing Fox's rise to power.
Marks and inscriptions
Pubd Apl a. 1806 by S. Fores No. 50 Picadilly. (Lettered with title and captions with imprint partially erased and re-entered in ink.)
Subjects depicted
Bibliographic references
  • George, Mary Dorothy, Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum, Vol. VII 1801-1810 British Museum, London, 1947. A reissue (coloured) of No. 7385 (26 Dec. 1788) with the original imprint obliterated. Six contrasted heads of Fox: 'Out of Place'; 'In place'; as a Jacobin; with a ducal coronet about to descend on his head;[head cut off]; the last head, 'As he Will be', is about to be adorned with the feathered coronet of the Prince of Wales, the word 'Regent' on his forehead. All inscripsoins as No. 7385. Fox's accession to power, as in No. 10530, &c., is associated with the Prince of Wales.
  • The Grotesque Factor Malaga: Museo Picasso, 2012. ISBN: 9788494024917.
Collection
Accession number
E.918-1970

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
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