A Scene in the New Farce - as performed at the Royalty Theater

London: George Humphrey, 1821. Etching and engraving on cream wove paper with extensive hand coloring in watercolor. 9 5/8 x 13 3/4 inches (244 x 348 mm), trimmed at the platemark. A beautiful impression of this large, intricate print, with extensive rich, bright and fresh handcoloring. Extensive surface soiling, minor rubbing, and scattered minor edge losses. Paper tape along entire top sheet edge, verso. Hard vertical crease at center sheet edge. Scattered light and unobtrusive spots of paper adhesive stuck to face of image. Age tone and time stain. Condition consistent with age. "This caricature depicts George IV as Henry VIII receiving a petition from his subjects, who are portrayed at oxen, with their horn tips covered with tiny liberty caps. The incident pictured refers to the petitioning by the London citizens to have the King's ministers removed. The ministers standing on either side of the throne area all grotesquely satirized. In the background, beefeaters carry large forks and eye the oxen greedily. Even the stained-glass windows have symbolic meaning; the royal coat of arms contains an escutcheon with a decanter in its middle, and the three feathers at the tip of each window have become peacock feathers of pride. The ceiling, which is decorated with antlers, seems to make reference to cuckoldry."

The Graphic Works of George Cruikshank, Richard A. Vogler, Courier Corporation, 1979; p. 133:12.