Artwork
H Beard Print Collection
H Beard Print Collection is a print by the Romanticist artist James Sayers. It dates from 12 and is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
About this work
This is a print by James Sayers from 1789. It’s a political cartoon in the Romantic style, showing two men in a heated scene.
The print is called *A Mis-Fire at the Constitution* and features Fox and Sheridan arguing over a gun labeled "Constitution."
It’s at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Look up the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Overview
James Sayers’ 1789 print *A Mis‑Fire at the Constitution* is a political cartoon that captures a contentious moment between Charles James Fox and Richard Sheridan. The image depicts the two figures in a heated dispute over a firearm marked ‘Constitution,’ a visual metaphor for the political turmoil of the period. The work is part of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s print collection.
Subject & Meaning
The cartoon satirizes the clash between Fox, a leading Whig, and Sheridan, a prominent playwright‑politician, using the mis‑firing gun to suggest a failure of constitutional governance. By personifying the Constitution as a weapon, Sayers critiques the instability and partisan conflict that threatened the British political system in the late eighteenth century.
Technique & Style
Executed in the Romantic style, the print employs exaggerated gestures and dramatic composition to heighten the sense of conflict. Sayers’ use of bold line work and chiaroscuro enhances the immediacy of the scene, while the engraving technique allows for fine detail in the figures’ expressions and the symbolic gun.
History & Provenance
Originally published by the printer Thomas Cornell, the print circulated as a pamphlet illustration, reaching a wide audience in contemporary political debates. It entered the Victoria and Albert Museum’s holdings through acquisition in the early twentieth century, where it remains catalogued as part of the museum’s British political prints.
Context
Created during a period of intense partisan rivalry in Britain, the cartoon reflects the broader public discourse surrounding constitutional reform and the role of the monarchy. The late 1780s saw heightened debate over the rights of Parliament versus the Crown, a tension that Sayers encapsulates through his visual allegory.
Artist & collection
Artist
James Sayers was a specialist in satirical prints that mocked British politics in the late 1700s and early 1800s.
