Rebecca Howse (née Wildgoose) ('Mother Goose of Oxford')
20 of 27 portraits matching these criteria:
- subject matching 'Regency Popular Culture'
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Rebecca Howse (née Wildgoose) ('Mother Goose of Oxford')
by and published by Robert Dighton
hand-coloured etching, published July 1807
11 in. x 7 3/4 in. (279 mm x 198 mm) paper size
Reference Collection
NPG D13432
Sitterback to top
- Rebecca Howse (née Wildgoose) (1737-1818), Flower seller of Oxford. Sitter in 5 portraits.
Artistback to top
- Robert Dighton (1751-1814), Portrait painter, caricaturist and actor. Artist or producer associated with 320 portraits, Sitter in 4 portraits.
This portraitback to top
Rebecca Howse, née Wildgoose, was a famous Oxford flower seller who had formerly been a brothel keeper. After she went blind her husband led her around town selling flowers. She became a well-known character, nicknamed 'Flora' by the students of Oxford University. She was immortalised in this print by James Gillray in 1807 and by his rival Robert Dighton in the same year.
Related worksback to top
- NPG D10881: Rebecca Howse (née Wildgoose) ('Mother Goose of Oxford') (from same plate)
- NPG D12890: Rebecca Howse (née Wildgoose) ('Mother Goose of Oxford') (from same plate)
- NPG D13431: Rebecca Howse (née Wildgoose) ('Mother Goose of Oxford') (from same plate)
Subjects & Themesback to top
Events of 1807back to top
Current affairs
Act is passed abolishing the British slave trade after vigorous campaigning by hundreds of thousands of people led by Thomas Clarkson and championed in parliament by reformer William Wilberforce.Resignation of 'Ministry of all the Talents'. Whig politician William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, Duke of Portland, succeeds as Prime Minister.
Art and science
Thomas Hope publishes Household Furniture and Interior Decoration; influential in promoting Greek and especially Egyptian models as the epitome of fashionable style.International
French invasion of Spain and Portugal.Britain occupies Copenhagen and captures the Danish fleet.
Napoleon begins to wage an economic battle against Britain, recognising the impossibility of victory at sea because of Britain's superior naval power. He aims to close the entire European coastline to British trade.
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