Vox populi, vox Dei : dedicated to the ladies who so conspicuously exerted themselves in the cause of freedom.

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Isaac Cruikshank
1756?-1811?
Vox populi, vox Dei : dedicated to the ladies who so conspicuously exerted themselves in the cause of freedom.
etching
image: 222 x 335 mm; sheet: 246 x 347 mm
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1900.
Peel 2471
Published: 
[London] : Pubd. 23d May, 1784, by W. Humphrey, No. 227 Strand, [1784]
Provenance: 
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Notes: 

Printmaker from British Museum online catalog.
Following caption title: Dedicated to the Ladies who so conspicuously exerted themselves in the Cause of Freedom.
Library's copy trimmed within plate mark

Summary: 

Fox stands, full-face, smiling; he holds a stout staff of liberty surmounted by a Phrygian cap. His left hand, holding a laurel branch, rests on his hip. On his left stands the Duchess of Devonshire (right), turning her head in profile to the right and holding out on her left arm a 'Shield of Virtue', against the arrows of 'Malice' and 'Envy'; other arrows fall to the ground, broken by their impact with the shield, inscribed 'Woman Hater' and 'Morning Post'. In her hat are the usual fox's brush and ostrich plumes. A star-shaped halo is lightly sketched behind her head. Sir Cecil Wray (left) walks off in profile to the left, bending beneath a heavy burden and supported on his stick. The burden consists of three bundles, 'Deceit', 'Ingratitude', and 'Per[ju]ry', attached to his shoulders by a band inscribed 'Cecil W-----y'. Black clouds above his head emit forked lightning. Over his head are the words 'I acknowledge my Transgressions, and my Sins are ever before me'. Over Fox's head flies a cherub holding out a laurel wreath; he blows a trumpet directed towards the Duchess, from which issues the word 'Victory'. Cf. British Museum online catalog.

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