Una and her Lamb or The Faery Queene
John Doyle (H.B.) (Dublin 1797 – London 1868)
Category
Art / Prints
Date
1838
Materials
Paper
Measurements
300 mm (h)440 mm (w)
Order this imageCollection
Blickling Hall, Norfolk
NT 354046.18
Summary
Print, lithograph, Una and her Lamb or The Faery Queene, by John Doyle (H.B.) (Dublin 1797 – London 1868). Part collection (49) of HB Sketches. Published by T. McLean, 26 Haymarket. No.530 24th March 1838. Featuring Queen Victoria (1819-1901), Lord John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, KG, PC, MP (1792-1878) and William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne (1779-1848). Text from 'An Illustrative Key to the Political Sketches of H.B.', London 1841: This sketch is an escape from politics, or perhaps it is better to call it a retreat into poetry, with politics visible from the distance. " 'Tis pleasant, through the loop-holes of retreat, To peep at such a world; to see the stir Of the great Babel, and not feel the crowd; To hear the roar she sends through all her gates At a safe distance, where the dying sound Falls a soft murmur on the uninjured ear." There is nothing in the story of Una, and her ass, and her pet-lamb, and her dwarf, that bears a close and particular resemblance to the history of Great Britain's Queen and her Prime-Minister; yet there are "comparisons," as Captain Fluellen says; for Una is a maiden, young, innocent, and beautiful, and so was Queen Victoria, and she had a pet-lamb, and the Queen's Minister (Lord Melbourne) was a Lamb, and both were attended by a small person (Lord John Russell), who did the work of the journey, while the lamb did nothing but eat and drink: - and Una rode on an ass, which was led by the lamb; and the Queen rode on John Bull, a patient and useful beast, who also was led by her Lamb, and, by some, was thought to be an ass for being so led.'
Makers and roles
John Doyle (H.B.) (Dublin 1797 – London 1868), engraver (printmaker)