JOHN 'HB' DOYLE (1797-1868) THREE OF 'HB'S SKETCHES'
| Note: |
John Doyle was born in Dublin and moved to London in 1822 where he initially worked as a portrait lithographer. In 1827 Doyle began publishing political prints anonymously. From 1829-1851 Doyle published his well-known Political Sketches series, signing his work with the initials "HB" to hide his identity. He was the paternal grandfather of Arthur Conan Doyle, who wrote of him "My father was the youngest son of John Doyle, who under the nom de crayon of "H. B." made a great reputation in London from about 1825 to 1850. He came from Dublin about the year 1815 and may be said to be the father of polite caricature, for in the old days satire took the brutal shape of making the object grotesque in features and figure. Gilray and Rowlandson had no other idea. My grandfather was a gentleman, drawing gentlemen for gentlemen, and the satire lay in the wit of the picture and not in the mis-drawing of faces. This was a new idea, but it has been followed by most caricaturists since and so has become familiar. There were no comic papers in those days, and the weekly cartoon of "H. B." was lithographed and distributed. He exerted, I am told, quite an influence upon politics, and was on terms of intimacy with many of the leading men of the day. I can remember him in his old age, a very handsome and dignified man with features of the strong Anglo-Irish, Duke of Wellington stamp. He died in 1868." |
| Condition Report: |
click here
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| Estimate: |
£30 - £50
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Bidding ended. Lot is unsold.
'A Tete A Tete', no. 298, depicting a conversation between Henry Richard Fox (later Vassall), 3rd Baron Holland (1773-1840), Whig statesman and patron of art and letters and Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, Prince de Benevento (1754-1838), French foreign minister; ambassador to London 1830-34, coloured lithograph, 27cm x 35cm; 'Blind-Man's-Buff', no. 332, depicting numerous nobleman, coloured lithograph, 27.5cm x 36.5cm; and 'Gratitude', no. 333, depicting a conversation between Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux (1778-1868), Lord Chancellor and Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (1764-1845), Prime Minister, coloured lithograph, 27.5cm x 35cm (3)
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