and politicians were a key part of the collecting base – among them Lord Baker of Dorking, better known to most as former home secretary Kenneth Baker.

He was a long-time buyer of Napoleonic cartoons before this part of his collection was sold by Bloomsbury in June 2015.

Works by Gillray, accounted for 12 of the 25 top prices achieved, his star quality demonstrated by the remarkable £15,000 bid for a copy of the 1805 commentary on power and greed, The Plumb-pudding in danger.

Although nowadays, the big names have become increasingly hard to purchase at auction, Andrew Edmunds rates the best examples of Richard Newton’s (1777-98) work highly and, in terms of prints from the 1820s, he puts Theodore Lane on a level with George Cruikshank.

Richard Newton was a talentthat burned brightly all too briefly. He began work at 14 and was dead at 21 but was responsible for around 300 prints which command strong prices when they appear on the market. His graphic simplicity still strikes a chord.

More than two centuries after these prints were made, it seems the themes of sleaze, the vanity and avarice of politicians and royalty, and the running commentary on the British national character, still resonate. Now why could that possibly be?

Article by Jasper Jennings

Further Reading

Bonaparte and the British: prints and propaganda in the age of Napoleon by Tim Clayton and Sheila O’Connell, ISBN-13: 978-0714126937

The Age of Caricature: Satirical Prints in the Reign of George III by Diana Donald, ISBN-13: 978-0300071788

George III: A Life in Caricature by Kenneth Baker, ISBN-13: 978-0500251409

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