A military review in Hyde Park before Queen Victoria

HEATH, William.

This Print of the Grand Review which took place in Hyde Park, On Monday the 9th of July 1838 in the Presence of Her Most Gracious Majesty Victoria, the Foreign Princes and Ambassadors attendant at Her Coronation, Is Presented as a Loyal Memorandum of that Pleasing and Joyous Event, by The Publishers.
London: Lewis & Johnson, c.1840. Aquatint with fine hand colour. Sheet 490 x 585mm.

Trimmed just within plate, mount burn around image.

A lively scene of a military review held in the north-east corner of Hyde Park as part of the celebration of Queen Victoria's coronation two weeks earlier, the 28th of June. Cavalry gallop around the outside of the field while infantry demonstrate a defensive square and artillery pieces fire blanks, both generating clouds of smoke. On the right is Victoria's coach surrounded by dignitaries, with the houses of Park Lane behind, their roofs lined with spectators.
A rare print: the only example we could trace is in the British Museum, published by J. Salisbury. The publication, the only one by Salisbury in the BM, could not have been a success as the plate was soon in the hands of Lewis and Johnson. Primarily publishers of music sheets, they purchased and reissued a few plates in the 1840s.
The artist, William Heath (1794-1840), is famous for the political satires he published under the pseudonym 'Paul Pry'.

BM: 1902,1011.8832.
Stock ID : 18441