Dives, Lazarus, and the Budget an original sketch Francis Carruthers Gould 1914

GOULD, Francis Carruthers (1844-1925). Dives, Lazarus, and the Budget. Original Political Cartoon, 1914.
 
Original pen and ink political cartoon, signed with the artist's initials "FCG" lower right, the drawing approximately 245 x 170mm, mounted to an original card mount measuring 430 x 370mm. The mount is inscribed in manuscript "Westminster Gazette May 7. 1914" and carries the title and full caption beneath the drawing. Some age toning and marking to the mount, with old mounting and adhesive residue to the reverse; the drawing itself clean and well preserved. Very good.
 
The cartoon shows Dives, a prosperous top-hatted gentleman identified in the caption as The Super-Taxed, confronting Lazarus, a labourer leaning on his spade. Dives complains: "It's a disgraceful Budget! All the new taxes are put on my shoulders, and none on yours!" Lazarus replies: "Beg pardon, Sir, but be you meanin' that you'd like to change places with me?"
 
A pointed satire on David Lloyd George's 1914 Budget and contemporary complaints from wealthier taxpayers about increased direct taxation. Gould draws on the biblical parable of Dives and Lazarus, recasting the rich man and the beggar as the heavily taxed wealthy man and the working labourer. 
 
Francis Carruthers Gould (1844-1925) was a leading British political cartoonist of his time. Closely associated with Liberal journalism, he contributed extensively to the Westminster Gazette, where his political caricatures became a regular feature.