The Reigning Sovereign
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (London 1828 - Birchington 1882)
Category
Art / Drawings and watercolours
Date
1850
Materials
Graphite on paper
Measurements
200 mm (H); 160 mm (W); 460 mm (H); 305 mm (W)
Order this imageCollection
Wightwick Manor, West Midlands
NT 1288031
Summary
Lithographic series of Playing cards (1846/7). Caricatures for a pack of playing (or punning) cards which were for the most part political skits. Two sets of 5 (see NT 1288030) influenced by the French Satirists and by illustrations in the new Punch magazine. Rossetti used an illustration of Punch and his dog Toby holding a scroll bearing the motto ‘Instituted for the Suppression of Humbug’ to represent the King of Clubs. Rossetti found scope for his youthful fantasies in such inventions as the king of Hearts portrayed by the bust of Shakespeare, Death as the King as Spades and Queen Victoria ‘The Reigning Sovereign ‘as the Queen of Hearts. The King of Diamonds is the Duke of Wellington, later in life Rossetti became obsessed with Napoleon owning a cast taken from his death mask NT 1289209t. These playing cards along with Juliette NT 1288029 are his earliest attempts at lithography, by producing these Rossetti may have hoped for some financial reward at a time, when due to his father’s ill health, the Rossetti family were in financial straits.
Full description
Lithographic series of Playing cards (1846/7). Caricatures for a pack of playing (or punning) cards which were for the most part political skits. Two sets of 5 (see NT 1288030) influenced by the French Satirists and by illustrations in the new Punch magazine. Rossetti used an illustration of Punch and his dog Toby holding a scroll bearing the motto ‘Instituted for the Suppression of Humbug’ to represent the King of Clubs. Rossetti found scope for his youthful fantasies in such inventions as the king of Hearts portrayed by the bust of Shakespeare, Death as the King as Spades and Queen Victoria ‘The Reigning Sovereign ‘as the Queen of Hearts. The King of Diamonds is the Duke of Wellington, later in life Rossetti became obsessed with Napoleon owning a cast taken from his death mask NT 1289209 These playing cards along with Juliette NT 1288029 are his earliest attempts at lithography, by producing these Rossetti may have hoped for some financial reward at a time, when due to his father’s ill health, the Rossetti family were in financial straits.
Provenance
Lady Mander.
Makers and roles
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (London 1828 - Birchington 1882), artist