Going to open the budget / Woodward del.

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George Moutard Woodward
approximately 1760-1809
Going to open the budget / Woodward del.
color engraving
image: 9 5/16 x 12 3/16 inches (237 x 310 mm); sheet: 10 1/4 x 12 7/16 inches (261 x 316 mm)
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1900.
Peel 1247
Published: 
[London] : Published Novr. 28, 1796, by S.W. Fores, 50 Piccadilly, 1796.
Provenance: 
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Notes: 

Library's copy trimmed within plate mark.

Summary: 

Pitt, 'chapeau-bras', stalks haughtily from his coach (left) towards the door of the House of Commons (right), his head thrown back, left hand on his breast, a small empty bag in his right hand. Documents inscribed 'Taxes' protrude from his coat-pocket. Spectators cluster in the foreground to see him pass. A very stout constable with a long staff motions them back, shouting, "make way there for the Minister Take Care of your Pockets". He wears the red waistcoat of the Bow-street runner and is probably Townsend (there is a certain resemblance to Dighton's portrait). A stout citizen puts his hands in his coat-pockets, pulling them together to protect them from Pitt at whom he stares fixedly. A young man puts his hand on his shoulder and points at his pocket. A young woman looks contemptuously at Pitt, saying, "what a bit of a thing it is". Behind Pitt a footman folds up the steps of his carriage and is about to shut the door. A dog, his collar inscribed 'Paid for', sniffs at the man and befouls his leg. The fat coachman sits impassively on the box

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