The General Toast: Honor and Honesty, Love and Loyalty, Fitz and Good Company

The General Toast: Honor and Honesty, Love and Loyalty, Fitz and Good Company

Anonymous, British, 18th century

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Three oval designs representing prominent figures in London, each lettered with a satirical toast. At upper left a half length portrait of Fox smiles as he sits at a gaming table, holding a dice-box; coins, with another dice-box, coins, and a Knave of Clubs, before him. Lettered "Honor and Honesty." Next to this is a portrait of John Wilkes seated writing with a quill, "No 45, To The..." and a copy of "Essay on Woman" next to him. This is lettered "Love and Loyalty." Below is a larger oval containing portraits of George, Prince of Wales and Mrs. Fitzherbert, who places her arm around the prince's shoulder as they gaze into one another's eyes. Near them on a table is a book lettered "Morriss Songs," and the toast below: "Fitz and Good Company."

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The General Toast: Honor and Honesty, Love and Loyalty, Fitz and Good CompanyThe General Toast: Honor and Honesty, Love and Loyalty, Fitz and Good CompanyThe General Toast: Honor and Honesty, Love and Loyalty, Fitz and Good CompanyThe General Toast: Honor and Honesty, Love and Loyalty, Fitz and Good CompanyThe General Toast: Honor and Honesty, Love and Loyalty, Fitz and Good Company

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.