The Cauldron–Or Shakespeare Travestie–1820

August 1820

Not on view

A British political satire commenting on the Green Bag and Milan Commission of 1820. Ministers, Lords Liverpool, Sidmouth and Castlereagh, are dressed as the witches of Macbeth, and toss ingredients into a cauldron labeled "divorce", "Cooke", "Leach", "Reports," etc. At left and right stand George IV and Frederick, Duke of York. The Duke of Wellington, as a small devil, tends the fire with a Waterloo poker.

Artwork Details

Title: The Cauldron–Or Shakespeare Travestie–1820
Artist: Anonymous, British, 19th century
Publisher: John Fairburn (British, active 1782–1851)
Subject: William Shakespeare (British, Stratford-upon-Avon 1564–1616 Stratford-upon-Avon)
Subject: Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool (British, 1770–1828)
Subject: Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth (British, Holborn 1757–1844 London)
Subject: Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh and 2nd Marquess of Londonderry (British, 1769–1822)
Date: August 1820
Medium: Hand-colored etching
Dimensions: sheet: 10 x 15 1/2 in. (25.4 x 39.4 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund and Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, by Exchange, 1970
Object Number: 1970.541.128
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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