The Regency twelfth cake not cut up / JS f[ecit].

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James Sayers
1748-1823
The Regency twelfth cake not cut up / JS f[ecit].
etching, drypoint & aquatint
image: 225 x 319 mm; plate mark 248 x 326 mm; sheet: 275 x 336 mm
Peel 3373
Published: 
[London] : Publ. by Thos Cornell, 19 February 1789
Provenance: 
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Inscription: 

Subjects identified in pencil in lower margin.

Notes: 

Caption title continues: And all the People rejoiced and said "Long live the King".

Summary: 

Fox and his party surround a Twelfth Night cake which Weltje was about to cut into portions. The cause of a sudden check to this proceeding is indicated by a broad ray of light (which strikes the cake and the bystanders) and by a scroll: 'The King shall enjoy his own again'. Weltje stands on the left, his arms extended towards the scroll, saying, "Den by Got we sail heb no Cake"; he drops his knife. He and Sheridan are the most agitated of the party: Sheridan with a face of despair looks up, saying, '"Now our Ruin is complete" School for Scandal'. Fox stands disconsolately, his hands in his pockets, his back to the ray. Burke (right), his arms folded, scowls up at the ray. Behind these three Stormont, Loughborough, and Sandwich (on the extreme right) regard it with less pronounced despair. Portland stands behind the cake, frowning fixedly. Cf. British Museum online catalog.

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