Description:
English black and white copper plate engraving of John Wilkes (1727-1797) in a modern frame, engraved by Gerard Sibelius after a painting by Robert Edge Pine (1720-1788). The print has faint ink inscription at the bottom: After the word Aylesbury "later [illegible] Middlesex" and another faint ink inscription at the bottom of the print [indecipherable]. Wilkes, an English political reformer and satirist, became a member of Parliament for Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire in 1757. Although considered a radical in England (with a notorious private life), he was honored for his integrity. Throughout his long career both in and out of government, Wilkes advocated for basic civil rights such as free speech, freedom of the press, standardized procedures for police arrests, and colonial rights. In 1761, Wilkes started the periodical, "The North Briton", which satirized the government. The provocative tone of this publication made it an instant hit, selling well over 2,000 copies weekly, nearly ten times the circulation of the government friendly, conservative newspaper, "The Briton." In 1763, "The North Briton" issue "No. 45” said, in effect, that the colonies should be free and satirized King George III’s speech from the throne, which outraged the King and court and lead to his being convicted of libel in 1764 before Lord Mansfield. Cries of “Wilkes and Liberty,” went up from his adoring public in support of his cause, and the “No. 45” represented a movement of revolt against the government. According to Wilkes, his trial would determine whether “English liberty be a reality or a shadow.” Wilkes won his case, claiming Parliamentary privilege exempted him from prosecution; however when he was charged with blasphemous libel after being expelled from parliament, Wilkes fled England, returning in 1768 when he was arrested again, serving 22 months in prison. Eventually he was expelled from Parliament five times between 1764 and 1772, and served as Lord Mayor of London in 1774. Wilkes’ fame resulted in his idolization in England and the American colonies; many commemorative items with Wilkes' image, such as prints and ceramics, were produced for the domestic market and export. Although Wilkes supported the independence of the American colonies, he did have his detractors; Benjamin Franklin called Wilkes “an outlaw …of bad character, not worth a farthing.” The cross-eyed Wilkes is shown seated in an upholstered side chair drawn up to a table covered with a cloth. He wears banded waistcoat, vest, laced cuffs, and peruke, with his left arm on his left leg and right arm raised with pen in hand. Pages of a letter that he is writing are spread before him, with an envelope marked "To Hum Cotes Esq.r/ London" leaning against a book with "Sydney on Govern" on the spine. In the lower left corner, there is man's bust profile with the inscription "HAMPDEN". The inscriptions below the title, "JOHN WILKES, Esqr." are in English and in Dutch: "Late Member of Parliament for Aylesbury./ Published according to Act of Parliament, 1764." and "Voorheen Lid in hut Parlem.t van Engeland wegans Aylesbury./ Vitgegeeven by Acte van het Parlement, 1764." Wilkes travelled to Holland in 1764, and Sibelius was Dutch although he later emigrated to England.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+78.028 |
