Category Archives: Satirical prints

The progress and vicissitudes of an emigrant

Posted on July 29, 2013 by mercedes-c

Douce collected a large number of prints by the radical satirist Charles Jameson Grant (active 1830-52). His lithograph Emigration: the progress and vicissitudes of an emigrant (1833) is, as Elizabeth Jane Errington explains in her book Emigrant Worlds, a ‘satirical … Continue reading →

Posted in Lithography, Prints, Radicals, Satirical prints | Comments Off

A contemporary printmaker

Posted on May 29, 2013 by mercedes-c

Douce befriended some of the most celebrated artists of his time and his collections were widely used by them. When Grayson Perry visited the Ashmolean Print Room a few weeks ago, it was great fun to select some of Douce’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Collections and Collectors, Engravings, Everyday life, Fools, History of printmaking, Museums, Prints, Satirical prints | Comments Off

Grinding fools

Posted on March 23, 2013 by mercedes-c

Many of Douce’s prints of fools are emblems from Dutch and German books, like the etching below: The scene is set in a watermill, where an elegantly dressed man is startled at the sight of batches of little fools being … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Emblems, Fools, Prints, Satirical prints, Uncategorized | Comments Off

We are five

Posted on March 6, 2013 by mercedes-c

I have just started cataloguing Douce’s prints of fools -the engraving below belongs to the popular type depicting a group of foolish figures that numbers one fewer than the title, so that the viewer makes up the total: On the … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquaries, Collections and Collectors, Engravings, Fools, Networks, Paintings, Popular prints, Prints, Satirical prints | Comments Off

The Juggernaut Debt

Posted on February 22, 2013 by mercedes-c

In 1832, The Ballot published a series of “Sketches in Church and State”. The proofs for the anonymous wood-engravings can be found among the satirical prints that the British Museum purchased from the estate of Douce’s friend Edward Hawkins. As … Continue reading →

Posted in Collections and Collectors, Networks, Prints, Religion, Satirical prints, Tax, Uncategorized, Wood-engravings | Tagged Newspapers, Radicals | Comments Off

A peep at the balloon

Posted on February 3, 2013 by mercedes-c

On Saturday, 7 July 1810, the Oxford-born chemist James Sadler (1753-1828) took part in the celebrations of the installation of the new Chancellor of the University by ascending in a balloon from Merton fields with his fourteen-year-old son, Windham. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Aerostation, Everyday life, London, Popular prints, Prints, Satirical prints, Science, Uncategorized, Woodcuts | Comments Off

The ruff-setter

Posted on December 12, 2012 by mercedes-c

In 1817, the April issue of The Critical Review carried an article on Philip Stubbes’s The Anatomie of Abuses (1583), in which Douce and his print Der Kragen Setzer are mentioned with regard to extravagant fashions and to the moral … Continue reading →

Posted in Costumes, Engravings, Everyday life, Fashion, Prints, Satirical prints, Shakespeare | Comments Off

Britannia Excisa

Posted on December 5, 2012 by mercedes-c

This satire on Robert Walpole’s 1733 Excise Bill was misplaced (maybe by Thomas Dodd, who did some rearranging after Douce’s death) and kept among Douce’s wood-engravings, which I have been cataloguing this week: The print has been cut from a … Continue reading →

Posted in Ballads, Broadsides, Collections and Collectors, Networks, Prints, Satirical prints, Tax, Woodcuts | Comments Off

Rural sports

Posted on July 27, 2012 by mercedes-c

On the same day the Olympic Games are officially starting in London, and in the spirit of Douce’s wonderfully mad notebooks of Coincidences (Bodleian), the first image that came to my attention when opening the folder of prints to catalogue … Continue reading →

Posted in Colour, Drawings, Everyday life, Festivals, Games, Prints, Satirical prints, Sports | Tagged Olympics | Comments Off

Satirical highlights

Posted on July 13, 2012 by mercedes-c

Douce’s satirical prints are being catalogued at the moment. With only one more folder to go, I have chosen the highlights below -they loosely relate to some topics of current interest: bad weather, economic recession, and major public celebrations involving … Continue reading →

Posted in Drawings, Everyday life, Prints, Satirical prints | Comments Off