A Cabinet Council
This satire comments on the moment in 1834 when the Duke of Wellington held all of the principle offices of state between the dissolution of Lord Melbourne's Cabinet and the formation of one led by Sir Robert Peel. The Duke sits at a table surrounded by seven empty chairs, as though addressing a meeting, and asks "How is the King's government to be carried on?" Two years before he had asked the same question during a speech in Parliament when the Reform Bill of 1832 was being debated, on that occasion referencing the consequences of proposed removal of nomination boroughs (districts where the local landowner simply appointed a Member of Parliament because there were no electors).
Artwork Details
- Title: A Cabinet Council
- Series/Portfolio: HB Sketches, No. 355
- Artist: John Doyle (Irish, Dublin 1797–1868 London)
- Publisher: Thomas McLean (British, 1788–1875)
- Lithographer: Ducôte and Stephen (British, active 1830–40)
- Subject: Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (British, 1769–1852)
- Date: November 28, 1834
- Medium: Lithograph
- Dimensions: Sheet: 11 3/4 × 17 3/8 in. (29.8 × 44.2 cm)
- Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 2014
- Object Number: 2014.757.5(14)
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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