John Bull Making Observations on the Comet
November 10, 1807
Medium
Hand-colored etching
Dimensions
Plate: 9 3/4 × 13 11/16 in. (24.7 × 34.8 cm) Sheet: 10 3/8 × 14 13/16 in. (26.4 × 37.6 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1959
Accession Number
59.533.1003
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the turbulent era of the Napoleonic Wars, British satire flourished through witty prints like *John Bull Making Observations on Comet* (1807), a hand-colored etching designed by George Murgatro Woodward, etched by the renowned caricaturist Thomas Rowlandson, and published by Thomas Tegg John Bull, the iconic everyman symbolizing England, peers through a telescope at a blazing comet—likely the spectacular Great Comet of 180, visible across Europe that autumn. This playful yet pointed scene captures public fascination with celestial events amid political upheaval. Rowlandson's masterful etch...