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Snake in the Grass: P.14345-R-52

An image of Valentine card

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Object information

Current Location: In storage

Titles

Snake in the Grass
Valentine card

Maker(s)

Publisher: S. Marks & Sons

Entities

Categories

Description

Comic valentine entitled, "SNAKE IN THE GRASS". A hand-coloured woodcut on wove paper. Appears to have originally been folded to create an inside page, but the pages are now pasted together. In the foreground, a large scaly serpent surmounted with the head and shoulders of a gentleman wearing a top hat. Behind him a farmer and his wife, carrying a cudgel and pitchfork are wading through a crop of hay towards it. A printed verse below: "A Snake in the grass we all with horror view, / And such a creeping reptile now are you; / Deceit, and cunning to your aid you bring, / And even your dearest friends you oft would sting, / A thing like you by none can e'er be prized, / As creep along both hated and despised ; / And those who know you never would repine, / To see you crushed, you sneaking Valentine." Printed below the image at lower left: London S, Marks & Sons. See also P.14345-R-84.

Legal notes

Bequeathed by Dr J. W. L. Glaisher, 1928

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1928) by Glaisher, J. W. L., Dr

Dating

19th Century
1850 - 1870

School or Style

British

Techniques used in production

Hand colouring
Woodcut

Related exhibitions

Identification numbers

Accession number: P.14345-R-52
Primary reference Number: 214337
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Tuesday 14 February 2017 Updated: Tuesday 26 March 2024 Last processed: Tuesday 29 July 2025

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Paintings, Drawings and Prints

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2026) "Snake in the Grass" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/214337 Accessed: 2026-01-01 14:30:24

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/214337 |title=Snake in the Grass |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2026-01-01 14:30:24|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

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https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-214337

Bootstrap HTML code for reuse

To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:

<div class="text-center">
    <figure class="figure">
        <img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/pdp/pdp77/P_14345_R_52_1_201701_amt49_dc2.jpg"
        alt="Snake in the Grass"
        class="img-fluid" />
        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Snake in the Grass</figcaption>
    </figure>
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