| Method | Mezzotint |
| Artist | Richard Earlom after Michel Vincent Brandoin |
| Published | London, Printed for Robert Sayer & J. Bennett, Map & Printsellers, No. 53, in Fleet Street; as the Act directs. August. 14. 1777. |
| Dimensions | Image 241 x 352 mm, Plate 252 x 352 mm |
| Notes |
With pencil note on reverse 'Wild beasts were kept long ago at the Tower of London. I believe that the Government of about 1777 did away with them and gave them away to the English nobility. This would thus be a "skit" on the nobles getting the country's property - C.U.K'.This is most implausable, the looters are dressed as rich citizens or gentry and the wild beasts stayed in the Tower, for the Royal Menagerie there, founded by the Reign of Henry III in the 13th century did not move to Regent's Park until 1825 . Alan Borg, in Country Life (26 may 1977) attempted unsuccessfully to find a political allegory and there does not seem to have been a fire or such at the Tower these years. The anonymous preparatory drawing was published by Ralph Hyde, in Print Quarterly, XV, 1998, p.60 Richard Earlom (1743-1822) was a British painter, draughtsman and printmaker. He was born in London, and was apprenticed to Giovanni Battista Cipriani, after he was discovered making sketches of the Lord Mayor's coach. This natural faculty for art manifested throughout Earlom's career, and he is believed to have taught himself the technique of mezzotint. In 1765, Earlom went to work for Jonathan Boydell, who commissioned the artist to produce a large series of works from Sir Robert Walpole's collection at Houghton Hall. His works after van Huysum, as well as the still-life painter Jan van Os, are widely recognised as his most striking. Michel Vincent (also called Charles) Brandoin (1733-1807) was a painter, watercolourist, draughtsman and caricaturist. He was born in Vevey in 1733 and worked in England from 1768-72. He died in Morges 1807. He is sometimes known as Charles Brandoin in lettering of British prints, but this does not appear to be his real name. Ex.Col.: Hon. Christopher Lennox-Boyd. Condition: two vertical creases across left hand side of sheet, repaired tear to top right margin. |
| Framing | unmounted |
| Price | £350.00 |
| Stock ID | 17188 |