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CRUIKSHANK, George (attrib.)
The Royal Dock yard, or The Walnut-shell Squadron.
circa London, 1814. Handcoloured engraving, 250 x 430 mm. (plate size); central fold else in excellent condition with margins intact. A most amusing satirical view of the extravagant court of the Prince Regent and the cabinet of Lord Liverpool.
The motif for the cartoon is the mock naval battle which had been staged on 1 August 1814 on the Serpentine in Hyde Park to commemorate Nelson's great victory at the Battle of the Nile.
Like a group of children making toy boats, the Prince Regent and his cabinet ministers make their ships from a basket of walnut shells and test their sea-worthiness in a large tub of water. The identity of each of the ship-modellers is inscribed on the stern of his boat. From left to right they are: Viscount Sidmouth, the Home Secretary; Lord Eldon, the Lord High Chancellor; the Prince Regent; Viscount Castlereagh, Leader of the House of Commons; Lord Ellenborough, the Lord Chief Justice; and Lord Liverpool, the Prime Minister. The insane George III looks in on the model-making scene from another room and proclaims, "Out upon you is this the way you attend to my concerns while I am Ill! Please the Lord to bring me about or I'll ship you all off to New South Wales in your own walnut shells".
The cartoon summarises the mood of the times portraying an out-of-touch government and Prince Regent whimsically making paper sails out of petitions sent by an outraged public, whilst throughout Britain great social, economic and political upheavals were resulting in massive levels of transportation to the Australian colonies.
This very rare cartoon is not listed in the British Museum Catalogue. The only other example we have been able to trace is from the Rex Nan Kivell Collection, now held by the National Library of Australia. Notes on the back of that example attribute the work to George Cruikshank.
- AUD 8,500.00 > other currencies
- ordernr.: 506_035
- bookseller: Hordern House (AUSTRALIA)
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