THOMAS ROWLANDSON (1757-1827)
The York Dilly or the Triumph of Innocence.
30 Mar 1809RCIN 810764
The Duke of York was acquitted of wrongdoing in Parliament by a majority of 82, the number here inscribed on the ‘dilly’. Even here the Duke cannot escape the embarrassment of his love letters: a man addresses him familiarly as ‘my Darling’. Rowlandson’s model is the Triumphs of Petrarch, in which the virtues are shown in carriages. Here, the Duke is reduced to a diligence, or public stagecoach, well beneath his royal status.
Cat. 79
Bibliographic reference(s)
BM Satires : Catalogue of political and personal satires preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum ... 11 v. in 12. BM Satires 11274