Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Alderman Wood in the character of Hercules : Encountering the Hydra!

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William Benbow

Alderman Wood in the character of Hercules : Encountering the Hydra!

Published

[London] : Published by Benbow, 169, Strand, [ca. 1820]

lithograph
image: 327 x 265 mm ; sheet: 378 x 281 mm
Peel 2054
Notes
Does not appear in George, M.D. Catalogue of political and personal satires preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum.
Inscriptions/Markings
Note pencilled on lower right corner of sheet: Dupl.
Note pencilled on lower right corner of sheet: Suppress'd
Provenance

Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.

Summary

Sir Matthew Wood, naked except for the skin of the Nemean Lion, wields a club at the Hydra, which has four heads, saying "Down, down to Hell! / and say I sent thee thither". The nearest head (probably King George IV) says, "Thou shalt not / commit Adultery." The second (probably Bartolomeo Bergami) says, "Non mi ricordo!" The third head, wearing a judge's wig and collar, has no speech bubble, but printed beside beside its profile is "Bill of Pains &c." The fourth head is unidentified, and silent, as is a shadowy fifth at the bottom right. Another unidentified head rests at the center bottom of the image; Wood is either standing on or just behind it.

Associated names
Peel, Robert, 1788-1850, former owner.
Benbow, William, 1787-1864, publisher.
Classification
Department