The Prince’s Bow

Frederick George Byron

The Prince’s Bow

London, William Holland 17^th March 1788

Etching on three sheets, joined

270 x 1950 mm

Neat repaired tear to sheet one.

£2200.

A large, long and scarce print by F G Byron who was an English amateur artist and caricaturist, and a relative of the poet the 6th Lord Byron (specifically, first cousin once removed), born in Mansfield in December 1764. Many of his works are unsigned and have frequently been attributed to other artists; in particular some of his works closely resemble those of Thomas Rowlandson. He made numerous plates for William Holland, between 1788–91.

Byron exhibited at the Society of Artists of Great Britain in 1791.

After achieving some renown for his satirical artworks, including a number of depictions of life in France during the revolution, he took ill and died at Bristol aged just 27

A strip design of figures, generally in pairs, in the manner made popular by Bunbury’s ‘Long Minuet’ (BMSat 7229). All attempt to imitate the bow of the Prince of Wales; the words spoken are etched above the head of the speaker.
A tall thin man bows, facing a short fat one who says, “What do you think of mine, Sir”. The former answers, “It won’t do upon my honor.”
An isolated middle-aged man stoops, his left hand on his back, his right leg raised, his face contorted with pain, saying, “Oh, damn the Lumbago!”
A tall thin man, whose dress imitates that of the Prince of Wales, bows, hat in hand, saying, “Monstrous like the Prince, the very bow dem me”. His stout and ungainly ‘vis-à-vis’, dressed in the fashion of c. 1760, is a doctor with medicine-phials projecting from his coat-pocket; he bends low, saying, “Curse it, I’ve burst the waistband of my breeches”.
A man wearing a sword bows, holding his hat in both hands; he says to his ‘vis-à-vis’, a young Irish volunteer in regimentals, “Good God, Sir, you should take off your hat when you make a bow!” The other (the first figure on the second sheet) answers, “Arrah let a Volunteer alone, my dear, did you ever know a man fire before he presented!”
A stiff, thin man, resembling BMSat 6718 (Furtado), says to a man who bows from the waist, his body almost horizontal, his long pigtail queue projecting stiffly, “You bow too low, Sir”. The other answers, “And you seem to be spitted, Mr few.”
A Frenchman, ‘chapeau-bras’ and wearing a bag-wig, capers like a dancing-master, saying, “Ha! Ha! by gar poor John Bull’s back will ache at this amusement”. His foppishly dressed ‘vis-à-vis’ stiffly imitates his attitude, saying, “These tight stays will be the death of me.”
A plainly dressed man bends towards a boy who bows awkwardly, saying, “Vary weel, Sawny, vary like the Prince’s bow!”
A stout and ugly bishop (the first figure on the third sheet) with an ill-fitting wig, bowing obsequiously, his hands on his breast, faces a thin stiff man who looks at him through an eye-glass, saying, “It may do for a poor Curate presenting a Petition!” The bishop answers, “Better than yours you Pulpit Prig.”
Burke and Fox, both ‘chapeau-bras’, bow facing each other: Burke says, “Garrick’s bow at the Shrine of Shakespeare was nothing to it.” Fox answers, “This is to a certainty something like it.”
Thurlow, in Chancellor’s wig and gown, bows, saying, “He take precedence of me! d—–n his bow!” (cf. BMSat 7320). He faces George Hanger, wearing regimentals, who bows, hat in hand, saying, “It would kick up the heels of chastity in Maid, Wife, or Widow.”