CHARLES Chaired by the Populace, after being elected Member of Parliament.

Date1787

Publisher Carington Bowles 1724 - 1793

MediumLine engraving and etching on laid paper

DimensionsOverall: 9 7/8 × 15 1/2 in (25.08 × 39.37cm)
Other (Platemark): 6 7/8 × 10 7/8 in (17.46 × 27.62cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1959-83,9

DescriptionThe lower margin reads: "CHARLES Chaired by the Populace, after being elected Member of Parliament./ Printed for & Sold by Carington Bowles,/ N.o 69 St. Paul's Church Yard, London./ Published as the Act directs, 31 August, 1787."Label TextThe ninth of twelve prints representing the "Contrast between Virtue and Vice exhibited in the Characters of Two Brothers." This print is a continuation of the moral narrative that chronicles the fates of two brothers named Charles and Frederick, who travel down different paths after receiving their inheritance. What follows is a cautionary tale about virtue and vice, a popular topic of prints like William Hogarth's "Modern Moral Conversations" or those depicting the parable of the Prodigal Son.

In contrast to the previous print in the series where Frederick appears at a masquerade ball in a devil costume, Charles is publicly celebrated by a crowd of supporters after winning a seat in Parliament. A large crowd of men, women, and children gather in the street. Charles is being carried by members of the crowd, seated in a chair and surrounded by an arbor of laurels. One well-wisher toast him with a mug of ale. Another man carries a banner that reads "Liberty and Free Election."ProvenanceBefore 1959, the Old Print Shop (New York, NY); 1959-present, purchased by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA).