Prints were Rowlandson’s main source of income. He sometimes worked for other publishers, and sometimes, as here, issued prints himself. This etching shows William Pitt, the Prime Minister, as a pillar of salt, melting in the rays emanating from the crown. Pitt’s rivals Charles James Fox and Richard Brinsley Sheridan look on in fascination. Pitt was under pressure from both the King and Parliament and suffering from serious ill-health. He died, worn down by stress, in January 1806. Cat. 60