Catalogue Number
NMLH.2000.10.853.1
Object Name
Print
Title
'Rt Hon Benjamin Disraeli. As slippery as the Gordon knot was hard! Cymbeline, act 2, sc. 2.' 'Rt Hon W E Gladstone MP. First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer. Double, double toil and trouble. Macbeth, act 4, sc. 1.'
Place
UK
People
Benajmin Disraeli, W. E. Gladstone, Conservative Party, Liberal Party, William Shakespeare
Description
Two small cartoons framed together, of MPs Bejamin Disraeli (left) and William Gladstone (right). Both men are wearing suits with bowties, canes and top hats. Each man's cane is topped with a handle bearing the other's likeness. Their facial features are extremely exagurated, particularly their noses.
Beneath each man's portrait is a quote from a Shakespeare play which gives an insight into the artist's feelings about the men. Disraeli 'As slippery as the Gordon knot was hard!' suggests the artist feels he is untrustworthy. Gladstone 'Double, double toil and trouble' possibly suggests that they saw Gladstone as a portent of doom as the witches who speak that line are for Macbeth.
Disraeli and Gladstone dominated politics for much of the Victorian Period, both becoming Prime Minister multiple times. The Conservative Disraeli was prime Minister twice between 1868 and 1880. He reorganised the Tory party to appeal to the new broader audience. The Liberal Gladstone was Prime Minister four times between 1868 and 1894. His social reforms meant he became known as 'the People's William'.
*ON DISPLAY*
