"The artist introduces us to the laboratory of a so-called alchemist. A roguish Jew and his familiar are busily engaged in the transmutation of metals; the servant, with a pair of long- nozzled bellows, is engaged in kindling the furnace, in which is a crucible; various retorts, alembics, and other paraphernalia of the 'black arts,' are scattered about, as well as a formula for 'changing lead into gold'; although the alchemists at best could only contrive to accomplish the reverse transmutation. Suggestive prints are hung on the walls of this chamber of mystery, such as the portrait of the notorious 'Count Cagliostro, discoverer of the Philosopher's Stone,' and the figure of the spurious 'Bottle Conjurer.' A military officer, in the next apartment, is turning his opportunities to more practical advantage by embracing, with a certain display of ardour, a pretty maiden who is nothing loth, the daughter, it appears, of the philosophically minded investigator."--Grego, J. Rowlandson the caricaturist
Alternative Title:
Searching for the philosophers stone
Description:
Title etched below image., Signed in image, lower left., Traces of burnished lettering in lower right corner of design., Not in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires., Temporary local subject terms: Hoaxes: allusion to bottle conjurer -- Male costume -- Furniture: chest -- Philosopher's stone., Temporary local Medical Library subject terms: Sex behavior., and Matted to 46 x 52 cm.
Publisher:
Pub. March 12, 1800, at R. Ackermans Repository of the Arts, N. 101 Strand
Weiditz, Hans, approximately 1495-approximately 1536, printmaker
Published / Created:
[approximately 1559]
Call Number:
Print00922
Image Count:
1
Resource Type:
still image
Description:
Title from text in lower margin., From: Francisci Petrarche, des hochweisen fürtrefflichen Poeten und Oratorn, zwei Trostbücher, Von Artznei und Rath beyde im guten und widerwertigen Glück, Frankfurt am Main: Egenolff, 1559., Image is from Cap. CXI, page XCVII verso., and This electronic record is derived from historic data and may not reflect our current information. Review and updating of records is ongoing.
publish'd accoding [sic] act of Parliament, Sepr. 2d 1762.
Call Number:
762.09.02.01.1+ Impression 1
Image Count:
1
Resource Type:
still image
Abstract:
"Satirical riposte to Hogarth's 'The Times Plate 1' (Paulson 211) contrasting particular elements of that print to suggest that Lord Bute is creating faction within the country while Pitt and his supporters attempt to calm the situation. St James's Palace is ablaze; flames issuing from the gate set fire to an inn sign of the globe lettered "New Lost Land" (a reference to the recent loss of Newfoundland). On the left, Bute, wearing a tartan night shirt, holding a large pair of bellows, runs away from the fire but encourages it by breaking wind; two other Scots, crouching, also break wind, one of them addressing the other as "Brother Small Wit" (i.e., Tobias Smollett); Henry Fox runs away from Bute's supporters crying, "D[am]n the Dogs how they stink I'll turn my tail on them". On the right, Pitt stands on a fire engine directing a jet of water on the fire (in contrast to Hogarth's print where he stands on stilts fanning the flames while a supporter of the king is the chief fire fighter); the pump is manned by the Dukes of Newcastle and Cumberland and sailors who parallel the prominent sailor in Hogarth's print. Cumberland complains that the "machine is sadly out of Order" (meaning government) to which Newcastle responds "Yes ever since you left it", referring to Cumberland's resignation from military command. The sailors allude to Pitt's letter of October 1761 to William Beckford in which he explains his resignation "in order not to remain responsible for measures which I was no longer allowed to guide" (published in the Annual Register, 1761, p.300); they compare Pitt as the "Master [who] Guides it well" with Bute whose action is a wind that "encreases the Flame" and "comes from a very foul quarter". Charles Churchill, in clerical dress, walks towards the Pitt's group carrying a bucket labelled "North Briton" and offering to "help without hope of a Pension", an allusion to payments made by the Crown both to Hogarth and to Pitt. In the background, to left, a group of men look on saying the "Squire" (the king) and his family are "safe on the other side" (implying they have joined the opponents of Lord Bute, which was not in fact the case); one man continues to encourage Bute, "Blow away my Lad they will expend all their Water soon". Etched verses below describe the scene in scurrilous terms suggesting that the fire began in "the Welch Ladys Bed Room", i.e., that of Princess Augusta, and call for quenching of the "Fire of Party."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
John Bull's house set in flames
Description:
Title etched below image., Sheet trimmed to plate mark at bottom., Three columns of verse below titie: Iohn Bulls hous in flames, to whom is this owing, / That's what we've to tell you. There look at them blowing / New lost land is done for, and all the worlds going ..., "Price 6d.", Temporary local subject terms: Buildings -- London: St. James's Street -- Newspapers: North Briton -- Naval uniforms: sailor's uniform -- Seven Years' War: reference to the loss of Newfoundland -- Signboards -- Fire-engines., and Watermark: countermark I V.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Name):
William Augustus, Prince, Duke of Cumberland, 1721-1765, Churchill, Charles, 1731-1764, Bute, John Stuart, Earl of, 1713-1792, Holland, Henry Fox, Baron, 1705-1774, Pitt, William, Earl of Chatham, 1708-1778, Smollett, T. 1721-1771 (Tobias),, Newcastle, Thomas Pelham-Holles, Duke of, 1693-1768, and Saint James's Palace (London, England),
Subject (Topic):
Fires, Signs (Notices), Taverns (Inns), Bellows, Flatulence, Fire fighting, and Sailors
"A scene on the sea-shore. A hoven cow, that is, a cow dangerously distended by eating green food, is being operated upon by a man who stands on a raised platform and pierces her flank with a pole; in his right hand is a curved pipe for the injection of smoke. Three country-people and a child gape in astonishment holding up their hands; a fat alderman in a furred gown does the same; from his pocket hangs a paper inscribed, "Nine Days he liv'd in Clover". On the right. three doctors or apothecaries are attending an emaciated and seemingly-dead woman (right), who lies on straw, dressed only in a shift: one puffs smoke from a tobacco-pipe up her nostrils, another applies a pair of bellows, the third listens through an ear-trumpet. It appears that while the cow suffers from a surfeit, the woman dies of starvation. On the ground lies the hat of one of the doctors, in which is a letter, "To Mr Blake Plymoth". Three spectators (left) watch the efforts of the doctors: one, an oriental, wearing a turban and draperies, holds out his hands in astonishment; he appears to represent the wisdom of the East (or the noble savage) confronted with the effects of English civilization. His two companions, fashionably dressed Englishmen, look on unmoved. Behind the sick woman (right) is the wall of a building, probably a theatrical booth; along it runs a narrow gallery where Punch is strutting; he points to a placard on which is a representation of the bottle-imp emerging from his bottle, the great hoax of the century, see British Museum Satires Nos. 3022-7, 5245. Beneath the bottle is a placard, "Subscriptions taken in here for reducing the price of provisions". Other placards on the booth are inscribed, "Marybone Gardens Fete Champetre"; "Mr R-s Letters from [the] Dead", this is behind the dead woman; "Hearing Trumpets on a new Construction", behind the doctor with the ear-trumpet; "Cox's perpetual motion, or the Elephant & Nabob", an allusion to Cox's Museum, see British Museum Satires No. 5243, his jewelled clockwork toys had been destined for an Indian prince; they are described in what Walpole calls "immortal lines" in Mason's 'Epistle to Shelburne', see 'Mason's Satirical Poems', ed. P. Toynbee, 1926, pp. 29, 112, 122, see British Museum Satires No. 5243. At this placard an oafish countryman (right) is gaping while a boy picks his pocket. In the background is the sea; on the beach is a boat raised on stocks but already breaking up; this is inscribed "The New Adelphi". The building of the Adelphi had been an unprofitable speculation, partly owing to the financial crisis of 1773, and the Adam brothers obtained a private Act in that year to enable them to dispose of the new buildings by a lottery, which took place in 1774. Across the water on the further side of a bay is a town inscribed "A View of Plymouth". A rope extends from a church steeple on the extreme left, behind the spectators, to a distant spire in Plymouth, down this a man is gliding."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Wonders of Great Britain
Description:
Title engraved below image., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., and Plate from: The Whimsical repository. London : Printed for R. Snagg ..., v. 1, no. 1 (August 1794).
Publisher:
Engrav'd for the Whimsical Repository, Septr. 1st, 1774, publsh'd according to act of Parliament
Leaf 10. Caricatures drawn & etched by those celebrated artists Gillray, Rowlandson, Cruikshanks
Image Count:
1
Resource Type:
still image
Abstract:
"A companion print to British Museum Satires No. 6791. Fox, North, and Burke in a poverty-stricken room: North (left), seated in a low arm-chair, leans back yawning, arms above his head, legs stretched out. On the wall above his head hangs a broken pair of bellows, emblem of his Borean blast. Burke, (right), very thin, seated on a three-legged stool, is mending the breeches which he has taken off. Behind his head is a spider in the centre of a cobweb. Between and behind them stands Fox, in the attitude of an orator, right arm raised, rehearsing a speech and regarding himself in a cracked mirror (right) which reflects his anxious and gloomy expression. Above his head a dark lantern, emblem of a conspirator, hangs on the wall (cf. British Museum Satires No. 6784, &c)."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Restrike, with "Gillray fecit" added in lower left corner. For an earlier state of the plate, see no. 6790 in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires, v. 6., Plate from: Caricatures drawn & etched by those celebrated artists Gillray, Rowlandson, Cruikshanks, &c. [London] : [Field & Tuer], [approximately 1868?], Cf. Wright, T. Works of James Gillray, the caricaturist with the history of his life and times, page 72., and On leaf 10 of: Caricatures drawn & etched by those celebrated artists Gillray, Rowlandson, Cruikshanks, &c.
Publisher:
Pubd. Feby. 25th, 1785, by W. Humphrey, No. 227 Strand and Field & Tuer
Subject (Geographic):
England.
Subject (Name):
Burke, Edmund, 1729-1797, Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, and North, Frederick, Lord, 1732-1792
Subject (Topic):
Politicians, Yawning, Public speaking, Sewing, Interiors, Poverty, Chairs, Stools, Mirrors, Bellows, Lanterns, Spiders, and Cobwebs
Verso of leaf 91. Darly's comic-prints of characters, caricatures, macaronies, &c.
Image Count:
1
Resource Type:
still image
Abstract:
"A companion print to British Museum Satires No. 6791. Fox, North, and Burke in a poverty-stricken room: North (left), seated in a low arm-chair, leans back yawning, arms above his head, legs stretched out. On the wall above his head hangs a broken pair of bellows, emblem of his Borean blast. Burke, (right), very thin, seated on a three-legged stool, is mending the breeches which he has taken off. Behind his head is a spider in the centre of a cobweb. Between and behind them stands Fox, in the attitude of an orator, right arm raised, rehearsing a speech and regarding himself in a cracked mirror (right) which reflects his anxious and gloomy expression. Above his head a dark lantern, emblem of a conspirator, hangs on the wall (cf. British Museum Satires No. 6784, &c)."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Printmaker from the British Museum catalogue., Publication date of 25 April 1785 supplied by the British Museum catalogue for an impression lacking the imprint statement; this date apparently based on that of the companion print entitled: Evening consolation., Temporary local subject terms: Furniture: Armchairs -- Broken bellows -- Lighting: Dark lantern -- Emblems: Dark lantern of conspiracy -- Bellows as emblem of Ld. North., Watermark in center of sheet: J Whatman., and Mounted to 37 x 31 cm.
Publisher:
Pubd. Feby. 25th, 1785, by H. Humphrey, New Bond Street
Subject (Geographic):
England.
Subject (Name):
Burke, Edmund, 1729-1797, Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, and North, Frederick, Lord, 1732-1792
Subject (Topic):
Politicians, Yawning, Public speaking, Sewing, Interiors, Poverty, Chairs, Stools, Mirrors, Bellows, Lanterns, Spiders, and Cobwebs
Verso of leaf 91. Darly's comic-prints of characters, caricatures, macaronies, &c.
Image Count:
1
Resource Type:
still image
Abstract:
"A companion print to British Museum Satires No. 6791. Fox, North, and Burke in a poverty-stricken room: North (left), seated in a low arm-chair, leans back yawning, arms above his head, legs stretched out. On the wall above his head hangs a broken pair of bellows, emblem of his Borean blast. Burke, (right), very thin, seated on a three-legged stool, is mending the breeches which he has taken off. Behind his head is a spider in the centre of a cobweb. Between and behind them stands Fox, in the attitude of an orator, right arm raised, rehearsing a speech and regarding himself in a cracked mirror (right) which reflects his anxious and gloomy expression. Above his head a dark lantern, emblem of a conspirator, hangs on the wall (cf. British Museum Satires No. 6784, &c)."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Printmaker from the British Museum catalogue., Publication date of 25 April 1785 supplied by the British Museum catalogue for an impression lacking the imprint statement; this date apparently based on that of the companion print entitled: Evening consolation., Temporary local subject terms: Furniture: Armchairs -- Broken bellows -- Lighting: Dark lantern -- Emblems: Dark lantern of conspiracy -- Bellows as emblem of Ld. North., Mounted on verso of leaf 91., and 1 print : aquatint and etching on laid paper ; plate mark 36 x 25.6 cm, on sheet 39.3 x 25.9 cm, mounted to 44.4 x 27.5 cm.
Publisher:
Pubd. Feby. 25th, 1785, by H. Humphrey, New Bond Street
Subject (Geographic):
England.
Subject (Name):
Burke, Edmund, 1729-1797, Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, and North, Frederick, Lord, 1732-1792
Subject (Topic):
Politicians, Yawning, Public speaking, Sewing, Interiors, Poverty, Chairs, Stools, Mirrors, Bellows, Lanterns, Spiders, and Cobwebs
"A satire on the fashionable lectures at the Royal Institution. The audience are in a semicircle facing the lecturer's table, which is covered with apparatus. The lecturer, probably not Garnett but Thomas Young who succeeded him as Professor of Natural Philosophy at the Institute in July 1801, and who delivered thirty lectures there between January and May 1802, is experimenting on Sir J. C. Hippisley (left). Holding him by the nose, he applies to his mouth a tube from a series of retorts in which a gas has been made. The result is a violent explosion of flame and smoke from the victim's breeches. Next Young stands Humphry Davy, assistant lecturer to the Institute since July 1801. Holding a pair of bellows with vapour and gas spouting from its nozzle, he watches the experiment with a sardonic smile. Facing the table from the right, Count Rumford (see British Museum Satires No. 9565) stands a little apart from the audience, looking on with a complacent and proprietary smile; he wears an order. On the extreme right the audience are Isaac D 'Israeli, wearing spectacles over half-closed eyes, Lord Gower, watching impassively, and Lord Stanhope, looking intently through an eyeglass. Beside him on the padded green bench is an open book: 'Hints on the nature of Air requir'd for the new French Diving Boat.' (Fulton's submarine was tried in Brest harbour in 1801, and a small vessel was blown up by a torpedo; Stanhope's experiments with steam navigation had been unsucces-ful, cf. British Museum Satires No. 8640.) Two unidentified ladies watch open-eyed. Immediately in front of Stanhope sits Lord Pomfret, enormously stout, his eyes almost shut. These watch from the right. Facing the lecturer sit (right to left) Sir H. Englefield, holding note-book and pencil, and a thin and elderly lady turned in profile, taking notes earnestly, but not watching the experiment. ..."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Experimental lecture on the powers of air
Description:
Title etched at top of image., Temporary local Medical Library subject terms: Scientific lectures., 1 print : etching, hand-colored ; sheet 256 x 354 mm., and Sheet trimmed within plate mark.
Publisher:
Pubd. May 23d, 1802, by H. Humphrey, St. James's Street
Subject (Name):
Young, Thomas, 1773-1829, Hippisley, John Cox, 1748-1825, Davy, Humphry, Sir, 1778-1829, Rumford, Benjamin, Graf von, 1753-1814, Disraeli, Isaac, 1766-1848, Stanhope, Charles Stanhope, Earl, 1753-1816, Sutherland, George Granville Leveson-Gower, Duke of, 1758-1833, Englefield, Henry, Sir, 1752-1822, Sotheby, William, 1757-1833, Pomfret, George Fermor, Earl of, 1768-1830, Denys, Peter, 1760-1816, and Royal Institution of Great Britain.
Subject (Topic):
Nitrous oxide, Scientific apparatus and instruments, Flatulence, Interiors, Lecture halls, Public speaking, Scientific equipment, and Bellows
Title from item., Date supplied by curator., Published in Puck, 9 April 1890., This electronic record is derived from historic data and may not reflect our current information. Review and updating of records is ongoing., and Temporary local Medical Library subject terms: Fainting; Politics, U.S.A.
Publisher:
J. Ottmann Lith. Co. Puck Bldg. N.Y.
Subject (Geographic):
United States
Subject (Topic):
Free trade, Syncope (Pathology)., Sick persons, Bellows, Fans (Ephemera)., and Politics and government