Landing at Botany Bay

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John Boyne
1750-1810
Landing at Botany Bay
etching
sheet: 365 x 515 mm
Peel 2555
Provenance: 
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Notes: 

Printmaker from British Museum online catalog.
Above title: All these & more came flocking but with looks down cast & damp &.

Summary: 

The party of the Prince of Wales lands in a body, headed by George Hanger, who marches with a flag on which are fetters and the words 'The Majesty of the People'. Next walks Burke holding a tall crozier and reading from the 'Newgate Calendar'. Captain Morris and Erskine walk together; Morris has the legs of a satyr, his tongue protrudes, and he looks fiercely over his right shoulder. A box, inscribed 'The Critic \ Morris's Songs or Wit and Obscenity Propper Amuseme[nt] for a Prince \ Fiants', is slung across his shoulders. Erskine, the Prince's Attorney-General, carries before him a box surmounted by the Prince's feathers decorated with a large monogram, 'GP'. The rest of the party has not reached land: the Prince sits astride a plank carried by a convict, the other end being shoved off the boat by a convict in the stern. North and Fox, wading, support him by the right and left arms. These three have expressions of alarm and despair. A convict in irons (left) is picking North's pocket. The bows of the boat are filled by convicts. In the middle distance is the ship: from the mainmast flies a pennant inscribed 'Coalition Transport Ct Morris commander'. A sailor standing on one of the yards waves a long streamer inscribed 'Send off the Long Boat Lord George is Preaching free Will to the Convicts'. Five Aborigines are represented in the background. Cf. British Museum online catalog.

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