A peep into Friar Bacon's study

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Thomas Rowlandson
1756-1827
A peep into Friar Bacon's study
etching, hand colored
image: 218 x 323 mm; sheet 237 x 347 mm
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1900.
Peel 3264
Published: 
[London] : Pubd. March 3d 1784 by W. Humphrey, No. 227 Strand, [1784]
Provenance: 
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Notes: 

Title from item.
Library's copy trimmed to plate mark.

Summary: 

In a room reminiscent of a magician's study, the King, dressed in a cloak as Friar Bacon, evokes visions of the royal power while the brazen head speaks. Each vision is represented by a large medallion inscribed, "Constitution," and shows a different balance of power between the king and both houses of Parliament. On the left, Fox, Burke, and North, peek in through an open door, appearing alarmed. On the right, a number of men walk down the "back stairs." The first of them, carrying a conspirator's lantern and led by the devil, is Lord Temple.

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