Two pair of portraits - presented to all the unbiassed electors of Great Britain, by John Horne Tooke

Gillray, James, 1756-1815 · December 1, 1798

Horne Tooke, not caricatured, sits at an easel on which are juxtaposed two canvases, three-quarter length portraits of Fox (Left) and Pitt (right). He holds palette and brushes, but looks over his right shoulder at the spectator. Fox's left hand rests on a pedestal (inscribed 'Deceit') on which the head of a fox holding a mask is just discernible. Pitt's right hand rests on a similar but rather higher pedestal (inscribed 'Truth'). Truth's head and a hand holding a mirror are just discernible. Their expressions support the two inscriptions. From the painter's pocket projects a pamphlet On the ground, resting against a table, is the other pair of portraits, juxtaposed, Lord Holland (left) and Chatham (right), bust portraits, in peer's robes, the family likenesses to their sons, especially in the case of the Foxes, being stressed. Each holds a document. On the table is a portfolio of 'Studies from French Masters' from which protrude sketches. The wall, which forms a background, is covered with prints, &c. (left to right): [1] (partly visible) a dagger about to be plunged into a prostrate figure; [2] four members of the London Corresponding Society seated at a table, the chairman a butcher holding a frothing tankard; [3] A framed half length portrait of Wilkes, squinting violently and clasping two large money-bags; [4] A profile in silhouette; [5] A framed picture of a windmill at Wimbleton (from Horne Tooke's house, near Caesar's Camp); [6] A placard; [7] A bust of Machiavel, looking reflectively towards Horne Tooke; [8] Part of a landscape with a small house (BM).