The comet / JS f.

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James Sayers
1748-1823
The comet / JS f.
aquatint & etching with stipple
image: 225 x 289 mm; plate mark: 228 x 296 mm; sheet: 257 x 318 mm
Peel 3374
Published: 
[London] : Publd by Thos. Cornell, Bruton Street, 18 February 1789
Provenance: 
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Summary: 

Print shows a comet traversing the design diagonally and downwards from left to right across an aquatinted background; the head is that of the Prince Wales in a star, the tail contains the heads of his disappointed followers: Sheridan, Fox, Portland, the wig in back view of Lord Loughborough, Stormont, North, the Duke of Queensberry (one of the "rats") holding up a quizzing-glass, Powys, Lord Lothian (another "rat"), Burke, and the Duke of Norfolk. Between Norfolk and Queensberry is the "profil perdu" of Derby. They are followed by Lord Sandwich, Bishop Watson of Llandaff, and Sir Grey Cooper. Next are two clerical wigs in back view identified by Miss Banks as Wilson, Bishop of Bristol, and Warren, Bishop of Bangor, while in the upper left corner of the print is the swarthy profile of Sawbridge. Cf. British Museum online catalog.

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