Taking the Water like a Duck
John Doyle (H.B.) (Dublin 1797 – London 1868)
Category
Art / Prints
Date
1843
Materials
Paper
Measurements
300 mm (h)440 mm (w)
Order this imageCollection
Blickling Hall, Norfolk
NT 354046.45
Summary
Print, lithograph, Taking the Water like a Duck by John Doyle (H.B.) (Dublin 1797 – London 1868). Part collection (49) of HB Sketches. Published by T. McLean, 26 Haymarket. No.785 Sept 29 1843. Re- England v France. A hen with a man's face -Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Bt MP (1788-1850), standing on a shore at right, watching over a group of ducks taking to the water, among them Queen Victoria (1819-1901) and Prince Albert, Prince Consort (1819-1861), looking at a bird with a man's face on the opposite shore - King Louis-Philippe, King of France (1773 - 1850); a cock with a man's head seen in background at far right - Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, KB, MP (1769-1852). from 'An Illustrative Key to the Political Sketches of H.B.', London 1844: 'Her Majesty and Prince Albert, it will be remembered, enjoyed the recreation of yachting in one of the Royal steamers, in the autumn, 1843, and took the opportunity of paying a visit to the King of the French, who received them at the port of Treport, and escorted them to his Chateau of Eu, where they were entertained by his Majesty and Court for several days. The Queen and Prince then returned to Brighton, and after a short stay embarked again, and proceeded to Ostend on a visit to the King of the Belgians, by whom they were likewise entertained for some days. The accounts in the public journals represented Her Majesty as so much pleased, and so little inconvenienced by her marine excursion, that "taking the water like a duck," although a very homely form of expression, was by no means inappropriate to the occasion. Her Majesty's Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel, in the character of Dame Partlett, is represented as under the same direful apprehensions for the safety of his royal chick, that a hen feels who has hatched a brood of ducks, and sees them run into a pond, but the Duke of Wellington, like an old cock, seems to entertain no such fears. The example of Her Majesty is being followed by Prince Albert and the Court, and on the opposite side of the Channel, the Majesty of France in the likeness of the Gallic bird, awaits to receive the party'.
Makers and roles
John Doyle (H.B.) (Dublin 1797 – London 1868), engraver (printmaker)