A City Pageant with an approved method of riding a restive horse without danger

Nixon’s watercolour is full of incident. The central event appears to be the difficulty of the figure on the left in controlling his horse in the crowded street, causing a tray of pies to be upset and disturbing the procession behind him. It is based on an actual event, namely the procession of the Lord Mayor, Sir John Eamer to a dinner at the Mansion House on 19 April 1802, which was held to commemorate the signing of the Peace of Amiens between Britain and France. The treaty is signalled by the letters ‘PEACE’ written on the wall.

The joke lies in the civic and social pretensions of the Lord Mayor who is entertaining royalty at the dinner and was perceived as trying to elevate himself to social status to which he was not entitled, shown by the Grocer’s sign on the left. The crowd in the street was notoriously rowdy on such occasions, adding to the general mayhem of the scene.