Robert Dighton.

[Lord George Grenville] A Noble Student of Oxford.

8 x 11 inches

An etching in original hand colour, drawn and engraved by Robert Dighton and published in London in 1808.

The caricature represents Lord George Grenville who studied at Christ Church, Oxford and went on to become the Prime Minister. With cap, gown and slightly supercilious air he could, however, easily represent any number of Oxford students from the C18th to the present day!

Robert Dighton (1752-1812) was one of the celebrated band of caricaturists working in London during the Regency. His beautifully hand coloured etchings are considered amongst the best examples of his genre and much of his work concentrated upon the colourful characters that thronged the crowded streets of Georgian London. His distinctive style of caricature was continued by his son, Richard Dighton, well into the C19th and is said to be the precursor for the Vanity Fair Spy caricatures that were to become so dominant in the latter half of the C19th.