Title: LE MORT
Materials: paper
Techniques: lithograph
Production person: Print made by John Doyle (HB)
Printed by: Joseph Netherclift
Published by: Thomas McLean
Production place: London, England
Date: August 11, 1829
Schools/Styles: British satire

[British Museum Satires 15845]

Description
No. 40. George IV and Lady Conyngham weep unrestrainedly over the dead giraffe. The former, in back view, seated on a stool facing the corpse, puts a hand on the shoulder of the latter, who sits on the floor (left), her face buried in a handkerchief. The animal lies on its back, its legs, swathed in bandages, in the air, the neck extended along the ground with the head resting on a cushion (right). Lord Eldon, seated (right), with legs dangling and toes turned in, plays a bagpipe (tune, "Highland Laddie"), registering deep emotion. Beside him are a large pill-box and a prescription signed 'Abe[rne]thy'. Behind, curtains indicate the creature's stall (at Sandpit Gate, Windsor Park), beside which the two Nubians abandon themselves to grief. Below the title:
'Suppose and suppose the Giraffe it should die, Old Bags he should play over Him, we'd sit down and cry.'


(Description and comment from M. Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', XI, 1954)
The giraffe, see No. 15425, died in August, see No. 15839, &c. For Eldon's presence cf. No. 15817.

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