JS[ayers] f.
Published 17th June 1782 by C.Bretherton.
Etching on thick watermarked laid paper, 175 x 110mm. 7 x 4¼". Large margins, uncut.
Caricature of Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl Stanhope (1753 - 1816), politician and scientist, standing in profile to the right, body bent forward, right hand extended as if making an impassioned speech. He holds his hat and cane in his left hand. He is plainly dressed, his lank and scanty hair tied at the neck. Stanhope was a leading member of the reforming London Revolution Society 1788-91. He laid out the Society's principles, which asserted that all civil and political authority derived from the people, that the abuse of power justified resistance and that trial by jury, freedom of the press and freedom of elections should always be held sacred. He was satirised in popular prints as 'Citizen Stanhope' because of his democratic principles but the society, though short-lived, was influential in framing Britain's reaction to the French Revolution. By James Sayers (1748 - 1823). Sayers's caricatures were so powerful and direct in their purpose that Fox is said to have declared that they did him more harm than all the attacks made on him in parliament or the press. Numbered 'XIX' in plate upper left. The publisher Charles Bretherton (c.1760 fl - 1783) was the younger brother of James Bretherton.
BM Satires 6072.
[Ref: 21348]  £130.00