The Upsetting of the Reform Coach

The Upsetting of the Reform Coach

John Doyle

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This political satire responds to the resignation of four Cabinet members from Lord Gray's administration in May 1834. A coach (lettered "Reform") tips over in the background as William IV looks out the window and shouts "Help! help!". On the roof, Lord Brougham says to Lord Melbourne "Sit fast M__lb__ne, these fellows have done much better to have kept their places; I think one ought always to keep one's place as long as one can." Behind the coatch, the Duke of Richmond holds the head of Lord Ripon who lies on the ground. At left, Edward Stanley addresses Sir James Graham, who is on the ground and says, "Well I think we did right to jump off, although we may have got a little hurt or so:__I told you Johnny would upset the Coach."

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Upsetting of the Reform CoachThe Upsetting of the Reform CoachThe Upsetting of the Reform CoachThe Upsetting of the Reform CoachThe Upsetting of the Reform Coach

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.