This object is part of Schaaf no. 636

Keywords: Politics Satire Caricature

The original satirical lithograph shows the Duke of Wellington operating an articulated 2D figure which represents the Scottish politician, Lord Brougham. In the nineteenth century, a ‘quockerwodger’ was toy puppet, usually made of wood, whose limbs jerked about at the whim of the puppet master. The word soon took on a political slant when it was used to describe a politician whose strings were being pulled entirely by someone else.  The original lithograph by Doyle seems to fit the the definition of a 'quockerwodger' and was published in March 1843. Talbot’s photograph of the lithograph must therefore have been taken some time after that date.  There is a blog post by Professor Larry Schaaf dedicated to this image here.