The Painter submitting his picture to the Examination of Connoisseurs and Antiquarians.

Literature: Sentimental Magazine, i, 505, January 1774;

                 Catalogue of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum, Div. I. Political and Personal Satires, vol. II (1873), p.864, no. 2008;

                 Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires Preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum, vol. V (1935), p. 189.

Trimmed to or just within the platemark.

This is an hilarious satire of the 18th century art world, where a foolish artist shows his painting upsidedown to a pretentious commettee of animal-headed art experts. It was published as an illustration in the Sentimental Magazine, i, 505, January 1774. The print has been attributed to the British porcelain painter and illustrator Jefferyes Hamett O'Neale based on stylistic grounds. (BM)

The variety of freakish figures in our print confirms Sheila O'Connell and Rosemary Baker's statement "O'Neale has a particular flair for inventing bizarre creatures." (1) As a porcelain painter in the the Chelsea and Worcester factories, the artist hardly had the opportunity to express his original inventions, whereas the satirical world offered him the perfect space for fullfilling his imagination.

1. Sheila O'Connell and Rosemary Baker, "Satirical Prints by Jefferyes Hamett O'Neale", Print Quarterly, Vol. 28, No. 3 (September 2011), p. 342.