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James Gillray
1756-1815
The vulture of the Constitution
etching and aquatint, hand colored
image: 217 x 326 mm; plate mark: 248 x 351 mm; sheet: 232 x 337 mm
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1900.
Peel 2556
Published:
[London] : Pubd. Jany 3d 1789, by H. Humphrey, New Bond St., [1789]
Provenance:
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Notes:
Printmaker from BM Satires.
Summary:
Print shows a monstrous vulture with the head of Pitt grasping in its left claw the crown and sceptre, and in the other the coronet of the Prince of Wales; the latter he crushes under the weight of his powerful talons, while he bites at the Prince's feathers, one of which he has already plucked out. The gorged bird's bulging breast is inscribed 'Treasury'; under the crown lies the torn 'Magna Charta'.
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