''The Mock Election'' is an oil on canvas

genre painting Genre painting (or petit genre) is the painting of genre art, which depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. One common definition of a genre scene is that it shows figures to whom no identity ca ...

by the British

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

Benjamin Robert Haydon Benjamin Robert Haydon (; 26 January 178622 June 1846) was a British painter who specialised in grand historical pictures, although he also painted a few contemporary subjects and portraits. His commercial success was damaged by his often tactle ...

, from 1827.

History and description

It was inspired by a real-life event that took place while Haydon was himself imprisoned at the

King's Bench Prison The King's Bench Prison was a prison in Southwark, south London, England, from the Middle Ages until it closed in 1880. It took its name from the King's Bench court of law in which cases of defamation, bankruptcy and other misdemeanours were he ...

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

for

debt Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money Loan, borrowed or otherwise withheld from another party, the creditor. Debt may be owed by a sovereign state or country, local government, company, or an individual. Co ...

. The conditions at the prison were fairly lenient for the inmates while they attempted to clear their debts. As a joke, several of the prisoners decided to organise an election, imitating those of a British general election. They declared they would elect two Members of Parliament (the standard representation for a pre-

Reform Act The Reform Acts (or Reform Bills, before they were passed) are legislation enacted in the United Kingdom in the 19th and 20th century to enfranchise new groups of voters and to redistribute seats in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the U ...

English Borough). The constituency was dubbed the "Borough of Tenterden" after the

Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench The Lord or Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary of England and Wales and the president of the courts of England and Wales. Until 2005 the lord chief justice was the second-most senior judge of the English and ...

Lord Tenterden. Three candidates stood for election, one of them Robert Stanton had recently been a real Member of Parliament. Another was the

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: *Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing * Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

Henry Josiah Holt. The election was presided over by an Irishman Jonas Murphy, posing as the Lord High Sheriff. The painting was acquired by

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 29 January 1820 until his death in 1830. At the time of his accession to the throne, h ...

for 500

guineas The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where m ...

and remains in the

Royal Collection The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world. Spread among 13 occupied and historic List of British royal residences, royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King ...

.Royal Collection Trust
/ref> It was followed by a sequel ''

Chairing the Member ''The Humours of an Election'' is a series of four oil paintings and later engravings by William Hogarth that illustrate the election of a member of parliament in Oxfordshire in 1754. The oil paintings were created in 1755. The first three pai ...

'', depicting the aftermath of the mock election and the calling in of soldiers by the prison authorities to restore order.

References

Bibliography

* Dart, Gregory. ''Metropolitan Art and Literature, 1810-1840: Cockney Adventures''. Cambridge University Press, 2012. * O'Keeffe, Paul. ''A Genius for Failure: The life of Benjamin Robert Haydon''. Random House, 2011. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mock Election, The Paintings by Benjamin Robert Haydon 1827 paintings Paintings in the Royal Collection of the United Kingdom London in art Food and drink paintings