The dog tax / [Gillray].

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James Gillray
The dog tax / [Gillray].
hand colored etching
image: 34.5 x 23.4 cm; plate: 35.5 x 24.9 cm; sheet: 37 x 26.4 cm
Peel 2933
Provenance: 
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Summary: 

Two dogs with human faces hang from a gibbet inscribed 'not Paid for'; two others stand beneath, looking up at them with complacent triumph, these are 'To be Paid for'. The gibbet is formed of two uprights with a cross-bar. The pendent dogs who face each other in profile with expressions of despair are Sheridan (left) and Fox (right); their necks are linked by a chain. Fox has a fox's brushy tail. He urinates upon Dundas who is immediately beneath him, facing Pitt. Dundas is a fat mongrel, Pitt a lean greyhound.

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