Who kills first for a crown

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Thomas Rowlandson
1756-1827
Who kills first for a crown
etching, hand-colored
image: 315 x 460 mm; sheet: 327 x 460 mm
Peel 3385
Published: 
London : Pub May 29, 1790 by S W Fores N 3 Piccadilly, May 29, 1790
Provenance: 
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Notes: 

Title from item; letter "r" in "first" etched above line and inserted with a caret.
Following publication statement: Where may be seen the completest Collection of Caricatures &c in the Kingdom also the Head & Hand of Count Struenzee. Admitt 1.
Printmaker from the British Museum catalogue.
Library's copy trimmed within plate mark and cropped with loss of imprint.

Summary: 

A design in two compartments, one above the other, the title between them. In both a pack of hounds with human heads chases a crowned stag; in one the stag is George III, in the other (below) Louis XVI. [1] The stag (left) is beside a signpost pointing 'To Windsor', [written in ink] Windsor Castle appearing on the extreme left. The huntsman (right) is the Prince of Wales riding on the heels of the last hound, his whip outstretched. The foremost hound, who has almost reached the stag is Sheridan, next is (?) Lord Sandwich, or perhaps the Duke of Queensberry, next Fox. [The head has a feminine appearance, and has been identified by Grego as Mrs. Fitzherbert. But black eyebrows and traces of 'gunpowder jowl' indicate Fox, whose absence would be inexplicable.] The next pair are a judge (? Loughborough) and Powys. The last two are Burke and Lord Stormont. Beside the Prince, his back to the other dogs, and urinating as a sign of contempt, is Pitt, turning his head to scowl up at the Prince. [2] The names of the hounds have been written in a contemporary hand beneath the print. The stag (right) has been reached by the hounds, three of whom are biting him. He has passed a signpost 'A Versailles'. The foremost hound is 'M. de Limon'; close behind are 'Le Baron de Talleyrand' furiously biting the stag's shoulder, and 'Le Comte de Vauban'; the next two, 'Le Comte de La Touche' and 'le Marquis de Sillery'. The last two are women: 'la Comtesse de Blot' and 'la Comtesse de Buffon' who wears feathers in her hair, and turns her head to gaze at Orleans, the huntsman, whose mistress she was. Orleans rides a clumsy hack, blowing a horn, and is dressed in the French manner, with the boots and whip of a French postilion (in place of his accustomed English riding-dress). His long queue streams out behind him. Cf. British Museum online catalog.

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