British school

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British school
19th century
The Political Conjurer Raising a Spirit of Anarchy or A Peep at the Practices of Domestic Enemies
1798 or 1799?
pen and ink and ink wash over graphite, on paper.
Peel 1852
Notes: 

Title from item.
Date suggested by internal evidence: Gilbert Wakefield achieved notoriety following the publication of his "A reply to some parts of the Bishop Llandaff's Address to the people of Great Britain", in 1798.

Inscription: 

Title inscribed in graphite below drawing.

Provenance: 
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Summary: 

Drawing shows James Fox, at left, wrapped in a sheet and wearing a Phrygian cap "bonnet rouge", waving a staff over a cauldron at right, labeled "Whig Club", from which he summons a haggard gorgon with pendulous breasts; she holds up a guillotine in one hand, and a small female figure of Liberty, bearing a staff topped with a bonnet rouge; on the ground are the words "Circle of Opposition", and from the cauldron emerge "Speeches of the Whig Club", "Age of reason", "Rights of man", "Joel Barlow", and "Gilbert Wakefield"; a hanging brazier is suspended over Fox's head, and behind him at far left stands a figure recognizable as R.B. Sheridan.

Associated names: 

Peel, Robert, 1788-1850, former owner.

Artist page: 
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