A Catalogue of the Kitchin Furniture of John Bull Esqr leaving of House-keeping now Selling by Auction, William Hogarth, 1762

Satire on bute's alleged sale of public positions paralleled with earl talbot's introduction of economies into the royal household. An auction is taking place in a large kitchen where, in the centre, talbot, lord steward of the household, instructs the auctioneer's clerk at a table beneath the podium. On the left, three cooks, one a frenchman planning to leave for calais to work for "monsr. Grandsire", are mocked by a scot for not being able to make haggis; another cook brandishing a gridiron and two ladles stands in front of the fireplace in which stands only a cracked pot filled with thistles. On the right, a poor man plans to bid for "old rags or broken glass", and a stout middle-class woman plans to purchase a ladle to beat her husband, while princess augusta and lord bute converse intimately; the princess points suggestively to a large pot resting with other utensils on the floor. In the background, a chaplain laments the lack both "of victuals and of grace". 1762 etching and engraving. Date: 1762. Dimensions: Height: 199 mm (image); Height: 229 mm (trimmed?); Width: 298 mm (image); Width: 299 mm (trimmed?). Medium: paper. Depicted People: William Talbot, Earl Talbot. Collection: British Museum. A Catalogue of the Kitchin Furniture of John Bull Esqr leaving of House-keeping now Selling by Auction (BM J,1.48)