Rowlandson (Thomas)

, [William Humphrey], [1784].
a dramatic political satire, estimated to have been first published in February 1784, then re-issued in William Humphrey’s ‘The History of the Westminster Election’, in the following October, here lampooning the Fox-North Coalition. The giant figure of Britannia, her cap of liberty resting on her trident beside her shield, grasps Fox by the ankle with her right hand, and North by the neck with her left, raising their petrified figures into the air to dash them down again.

The Westminster Election proved a huge boost to Rowlandson’s burgeoning career as a caricaturist, the political upheaval providing ample opportunities for him to lampoon both Fox and Pitt, which he did with relish, happily responding to demand from both sides..
280 by 215mm (11 by 8½ inches).