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Striking Impressions

The public eye

Row of illustrated faces

The public eye

Try drawing a famous persons face. Is there something memorable or distinctive about their face? Do they look more recognisable if you exaggerate their features?

Line break composed of illustrated facial features

A medal. On one side is the profile of a large man with handsome features, curly hair and plate armour. On the reverse, the same face appears on an extremely muscley naked figure wearing a lions pelt. He is rescuing a woman bearing the Union flag on a shield from a monstrous humanoid. An enormous, round, shapeless head without a face, wearing laurels.
Medal celebrating the Battle of Culloden

Britain, 1746

Prince William, Duke of Cumberland (1721-1765) was hailed as a hero for leading the army that decisively defeated the Jacobites in 1746 at the Battle of Culloden. He is idealised in this medal, even being depicted as Hercules slaying a monster threatening a personification of Britain. Following military failure later in life the Duke was ridiculed, and caricatured as a faceless lump.

Right: The Duke depicted by the caricaturist Mary Darly (active 1756-1779).

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Engraving of a large man with broad shoulders, a square head and huge hands, wearing a coat with enormous cuffs. He is scowling wickedly and appears to be counting on his fingers. He sits with quill and ink next to a blank book titled Memoirs. The picture is captioned Simon Lord Lovat drawn from life and etched in aquafortis by William Hogarth. Price 1 shilling. Published according to Act of Parliament August 25th 1746.
Simon Lord Lovat by William Hogarth

London, 1746

Lovat (1677-1747) was convicted for treason following the Battle of Culloden. William Hogarth was permitted to draw Lovat in custody. Hogarth did not intend to caricature his subject, but did focus on illustrating Lovat’s character, and his reputation as “the most devious man in Scotland.” Hogarth sold around 10,000 copies of the drawing when Lovat was publicly executed.

Engraving of a tall, slender man with a wig, crossed eyes and an overbite who sits grinning in a chair, holding a stick which has a cap labelled LIBERTY on top of it. He wears a coat with large cuffs and sits with quill and ink next to news sheets titled North Briton number 17 and 45.
John Wilkes by William Hogarth

London, 1763

Like Simon Lord Lovat, the journalist and politician John Wilkes (1725-1797) was pictured by William Hogarth while under arrest. Wilkes was arrested for seditious libel, having accused the king of lying. He had also insulted Hogarth, who responded by exaggerating the prisoner’s squinting eye and rakish grin, setting his wig into devilish horns. Wilkes diffused the image’s impact by praising its accuracy and declaring it to be “a caricatura of what nature had already caricatured”. As a result, many people viewed it as a truthful depiction rather than a satire.

A roughly drawn sketch of Hogarth's picture of John Wilkes, emphasising the picture's crossed eyes and crooked mouth.

In a letter to his future father-in-law in Aberdeen, the philosopher James Beattie wrote from London that “Abusive prints are published almost every day” and promised to send a copy of Wilkes’ picture – adding his own “rude sketch” of it in the meantime.

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Print of a man in profile. He has a stooped back, a huge beak like nose, and swept back hair. The lines are scratchy and the picture has a rough, energetic style.
Samuel Beckett by Ralph Steadman

Aberdeen, 1993

The artist Ralph Steadman (1936-) has a longstanding association with the Peacock printmaking studio in Aberdeen. He created this typically subversive etching of the Irish author Samuel Beckett there during a residency in the early 1990s. Beckett’s craggy features have been amplified to give an almost bird-like appearance.

Row of illustrated faces