1835 watercolour caricature Lord Brougham (?), by John Paget (UK)

$225.00 CAD

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 Nice original watercolour caricature drawing showing a cabriolet carriage with its emaciated looking horse, the driver asking "Vant a cab y'er Honour?", the well-to-do gentleman (possibly Henry Brougham, 1st Baron) replies "Is your oss werry peaceable?".

In the background, another carriage horse has collapsed.

The background to the drawing is unclear and may show Henry Brougham, who was coming to the end of his tenure in the office of Lord Chancellor (1830-April 1835). He had become unpopular within both the public and political arenas, being thought of as arrogant and selfish with a tendency to interfere within departments.

Signed lower left corner “J.P. Feb.y 2 1835

On the back, study for a gentleman (with face coloured) and partial outline of another person. Also some text, 4 items listed, last one being “cobalt”. Color selection?

Drawn on thick paper. On lower right corner embossed with coat of arms and ‘Superfine London Board - Even Surface’. Sold by British artist supplier James Lawrance Turnbull & John Turnbull, Holywell Mount, Curtain Road, Shoreditch EC (1830-1862).

Provenance is from a large album which apparently has an association with Paget, and this may explain the young student's commentary on the Lord Chancellor the addition of a carriage again possibly being a nod to Brougham.

Attached paper on back where glued into an album. Slight smudge LL.

14 x 23 cm.

 

John Paget (1811 1898) was a barrister, police magistrate and author. He entered the Middle Temple in October 1835 and was called to the bar in November 1838. Paget was a Whig, an activist for the Great Reform Bill, and was a member of the Reform Club from its foundation in 1836. In 1864 Paget was appointed a magistrate at the Thames police court, later working for the Hammersmith and Wandsworth courts. He was a keen artist, often sketching whilst in court and provided illustrations to "Bits and Bearingreins" (1875) by Edward Fordham Flower. He was a contributor to Blackwood's Magazine between 1860 and 1888, and in 1874 published "Paradoxes and Puzzles", which included accounts of a number of sensational crimes.