The death of Rochester / W.H. fect.

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William Humphrey
approximately 1740-approximately 1810
The death of Rochester / W.H. fect.
etching with roulette
image: 227 x 338 mm; sheet: 248 x 355 mm
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1900.
Peel 2295
Published: 
[London] : Pubd. 30th Octr. 1777 by W. Humphrey, [1777]
Provenance: 
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Notes: 

Design attributed to Gillray.
"The parson should be Burnet (1643-1715), though a much older man is depicted, perhaps a caricature of a living divine." Cf. British Museum online catalog.
Library's copy trimmed to plate mark.

Summary: 

Slumped in an oversized armchair, wearing nightcap and muffler, the wan libertine Earl listens to a robed, bewigged and bespectacled but nearly toothless old clergyman who reads from the 19th chapter of Genesis. At the head of the bed to the right is displayed a coat of arms, on which the coronet of an earl is visible.

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