Irish M.P.s.
['Paul Pry' monogram of William Heath.]
Pub by T McLean 26 Haymarket where political and other Caricature are daily publishing [n.d., c.1829.]
Hand-coloured etching, 260 x 370mm. 14½ x 10¼". Margins a little grubby and tatty, with tear into upper right of plate.
Political satire: an Irish schoolmaster-priest, sitting in a chair taking a pinch of snuff, teaches a dwarfish Irish peasant, ragged and barelegged. The peasant answers "O'C—for O'Connell thats right—now Pat what does MP stand for eh?" with: "Mealy Potato". The Irish nationalist politician Daniel O'Connell (1775 – 1847) was satirized as a potato by Heath in 1829 (see BM Satires 15684). By William Heath (1794/5 - 1840), ex-Captain of Dragoons, illustrator of colour-plate books, and prolific caricaturist. From 1827-9 he used the pseudonym Paul Pry (from the name of a character in a comedy of 1825 by John Poole, that became a tag used for any very inquisitive person), with the emblem of a small man holding a walking stick in a lower corner of his plates. This figure was soon copied by other caricaturists (eg Sharpshooter), and so from 1828 Heath began to sign his plates with his full name. He published regularly with Thomas McLean.
BM Satires undescribed.
[Ref: 27494] £280.00
Pub by T McLean 26 Haymarket where political and other Caricature are daily publishing [n.d., c.1829.]
Hand-coloured etching, 260 x 370mm. 14½ x 10¼". Margins a little grubby and tatty, with tear into upper right of plate.
Political satire: an Irish schoolmaster-priest, sitting in a chair taking a pinch of snuff, teaches a dwarfish Irish peasant, ragged and barelegged. The peasant answers "O'C—for O'Connell thats right—now Pat what does MP stand for eh?" with: "Mealy Potato". The Irish nationalist politician Daniel O'Connell (1775 – 1847) was satirized as a potato by Heath in 1829 (see BM Satires 15684). By William Heath (1794/5 - 1840), ex-Captain of Dragoons, illustrator of colour-plate books, and prolific caricaturist. From 1827-9 he used the pseudonym Paul Pry (from the name of a character in a comedy of 1825 by John Poole, that became a tag used for any very inquisitive person), with the emblem of a small man holding a walking stick in a lower corner of his plates. This figure was soon copied by other caricaturists (eg Sharpshooter), and so from 1828 Heath began to sign his plates with his full name. He published regularly with Thomas McLean.
BM Satires undescribed.
[Ref: 27494] £280.00