Design in two compartments contrasting on the left the poverty and depravity of "French Liberty" with the opulence of the British on the right "British Slavery." The thin, ragged sansculotte with a liberty cap on his head, warms his bare, talon-like feet before a fire, while eating his dinner of raw onions. Behind him snails overflow his chamber pot; above the fireplace a "Map of French Conquests". At his feet a sword lies across a violin like a bow. He extolls the virtues of the National Assembly and new won liberties. In contrast on the right, an obese, red-faced Englishman sits in a luxurious room before a table laden with a tankard of hock and a large joint of beef. His shoes are slashed to relieve his bloated, gouty feet. A gold statute of Britannia adorns the wall above him. He curses his ministry for imposing taxes and starving the British people
Alternative Title:
British slavery
Description:
Title etched below image., Two images on one plate., 1 print : etching on wove paper, hand-colored ; plate mark 25.2 x 35.5 cm, on sheet 27.7 x 39.7 cm., and Mounted on leaf 21 of volume 3 of 12.
Publisher:
Pubd. December 21st, 1792, by H. Humphrey, No. 18 Old Bond Street
Subject (Geographic):
France, France., and Great Britain.
Subject (Topic):
History, Taxation, Britannia (Symbolic character), Liberty, Poverty, Rugs, Taxes, and Wealth
Design in two compartments contrasting on the left the poverty and depravity of "French Liberty" with the opulence of the British on the right "British Slavery." The thin, ragged sansculotte with a liberty cap on his head, warms his bare, talon-like feet before a fire, while eating his dinner of raw onions. Behind him snails overflow his chamber pot; above the fireplace a "Map of French Conquests". At his feet a sword lies across a violin like a bow. He extolls the virtues of the National Assembly and new won liberties. In contrast on the right, an obese, red-faced Englishman sits in a luxurious room before a table laden with a tankard of hock and a large joint of beef. His shoes are slashed to relieve his bloated, gouty feet. A gold statute of Britannia adorns the wall above him. He curses his ministry for imposing taxes and starving the British people
Alternative Title:
British slavery
Description:
Title etched below image. and Two images on one plate.
Publisher:
Pubd. December 21st, 1792, by H. Humphrey, No. 18 Old Bond Street
Subject (Geographic):
France, France., and Great Britain.
Subject (Topic):
History, Taxation, Britannia (Symbolic character), Liberty, Poverty, Rugs, Taxes, and Wealth
Title from item., Publication date from date etched below sundial on the barn in the image ('9' etched in reverse view)., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., Four lines of verse in two columns etched on both sides of title: whence straight he came with hat and wig ..., Reversed version of no. 6896 in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum, v. 6., and Temporary local subject terms: Buildings: calenderer's house -- Trades: calenderers -- Fences -- Horses -- Donkeys -- Sundials - Wigs -- Dressing gowns -- Literature: illustration to Cowper's John Gilpin.
Two medallions side-by-side contrast British Liberty and French Liberty. On the left Britannia is seated under a large oak looking out to sea at a ship under full sail. At her feet lies the British lion, in her hands the scales of justice and a copy of the Magna Charta. On the right French Liberty, Medusa-like, tramples on a decapitated body, as she holds a trident impaled with a head and two hearts. In the background a body hangs from a street lamp shaped like a gibbet. Beneath the images, a list of contrasting virtues and vices of the two countries
Description:
Title etched above images., Printmaker, artist, and publication date from British Museum catalogue., Text in lower right corner of plate, preceded by the word "Price" that has been mostly burnished out: Plain 3d coloured 6., Six lines of text below each image. Under the image of British Liberty: Religion, morality, loyalty ... Under the image of French Liberty: Atheism, perjury, rebellion ... At the lower edge, below both columns: Which is best., and Mounted to 32 x 45 cm.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Geographic):
France
Subject (Topic):
Medusa (Greek mythology), Britannia (Symbolic character), Decapitations, Hangings (Executions)., Liberty cap, Liberty, Scales, Ships, History, and Foreign public opinion, British
Title from item., Printmaker, artist and imprint from an earlier state in the British Museum online catalogue. This state without imprint, possibly by a different publisher., In lower right corner of plate: Price 3d plain, coloured 6d., Six lines of text below each image: Religion, morality ... (under the image of British Liberty), Atheism, perjury ... (under the image of French Liberty), with additional line below both columns: which is best., Later state, without the publication line, of No. 8284 in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires, v. 7., Temporary local subject terms: British Lion -- Liberty: allusion to Magna Charta -- Symbols: scales of Justice -- Ships -- Symbols: ship with the Union Jack as symbol of power -- Medusa as personification of French liberty -- Executions: Street lantern as gibbet -- Lighting: street light -- Decapitations -- Weapons: daggers., and Watermark: Strasburg bend with initials G R below.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Topic):
Britannia (Symbolic character), Liberty cap, and Medusa (Greek mythology)
