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George Cruikshank
1792-1878
The Queen's matrimonial ladder
Published
[London] : [Printed by and for William Hone, Ludgate-Hill], [1820]
wood engraving
106 x 92 mm
Peel 2086
Notes
Title derived from host work.
Title page illustration from The Queen's matrimonial ladder : a national toy with fourteen step scenes and illustrations in verse, with eighteen other cuts (London: William Hone, 1820).
Printed directly above image: "The question is not merely whether the Queen shall have her rights, but whether the rights / of any individual in the kingdom shall be free from violation." / Her Majesty's Answer to the Norwich Address.
Printed directly below image: " Here is a gentleman, and a friend of mine!" / Measure for Measure.
Detached from The Queen's matrimonial ladder : a national toy with fourteen step scenes and illustrations in verse, with eighteen other cuts (London: William Hone, 1820).
Trimmed, with only the Shakespeare quotation text remaining.
Title page illustration from The Queen's matrimonial ladder : a national toy with fourteen step scenes and illustrations in verse, with eighteen other cuts (London: William Hone, 1820).
Printed directly above image: "The question is not merely whether the Queen shall have her rights, but whether the rights / of any individual in the kingdom shall be free from violation." / Her Majesty's Answer to the Norwich Address.
Printed directly below image: " Here is a gentleman, and a friend of mine!" / Measure for Measure.
Detached from The Queen's matrimonial ladder : a national toy with fourteen step scenes and illustrations in verse, with eighteen other cuts (London: William Hone, 1820).
Trimmed, with only the Shakespeare quotation text remaining.
Provenance
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Summary
Queen Caroline sits with folded arms on the top step or hinge, inscribed REMIGRATION, of a double ladder, looking down at King George IV (left) who has fallen painfully on his back from the second to last rung from the ground, which is broken. These rungs have inscriptions reading upwards from the right to the summit (QUALIFICATION, DECLARATION, ACCERTATION, ALTERATION, IMPUTATION, EXCULPATION, and MIGRATION), and thence downwards to the ground (REMIGRATION, CONSTERNATION, ACCUSATION, PUBLICATION, INDIGNATION, CORONATION, and DEGRADATION). The broken step from which the King has fallen is CORONATION.
Associated names
Peel, Robert, 1788-1850, former owner.
Hone, William, 1780-1842, publisher.
Hone, William, 1780-1842. Queen's matrimonial ladder.
Hone, William, 1780-1842, publisher.
Hone, William, 1780-1842. Queen's matrimonial ladder.
Artist
Classification
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