"Pitt as Death on the pale Horse rides naked on the White Horse of Hanover, galloping over the prostrate bodies of pigs; other pigs, a multitude extending to the horizon, flee before him. On the horse's fringed saddle-cloth is a crown. Pitt is very emaciated, his flaming hair streams behind him encircled by a fillet inscribed 'Destruction'. In his right hand is a large flaming sword; in his left he holds the thread-like body of a scaly monster with gaping jaws, webbed wings, and serpent's tail. Behind him on the horse's hind quarters sits a naked imp wearing the feathered coronet of the Prince of Wales, with the motto 'Ich di[en]'. He grasps Pitt, and kisses his posterior; in his left hand he holds out a paper: 'Provision for the Millenium £125,000 pr An'. The horse's tail streams out, expanding into clouds, and merging with the flames of Hell which rise from the extreme right. In the tail and flames imps are flying, headed by Dundas holding a pitchfork; he wears a wig and plaid with horns and webbed wings. Behind are three imps: Loughborough, indicated as usual by an elongated judge's wig in back view (cf. BMSat 6796); Burke with webbed wings and serpent's tail; Pepper Arden [Identified by Wright and Evans as Lord Kenyon. The identification in the text is confirmed by Lord Holland.] wearing a large wig. In the foreground (right) Pitt's opponents are being kicked towards Hell by the horse's hind legs. Fox has just been violently struck in the face, and staggers backwards, clutching a paper inscribed 'Peace'. Sheridan lies prone, face downwards, hands raised, as if for mercy. Wilberforce sits on the ground clasping his 'Motion for a Peace' (see BMSat 8637). Behind Fox Lansdowne looks up from the ground, clenching his fists. On the extreme right the Duke of Norfolk, Lord Stanhope, and the Duke of Grafton are about to plunge into the flames: Fox in falling is pushing them over. ..."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Two lines of text below title: And e'er the last days began, I looked, & behold, a white horse, & his name who sat upon it was Death ..., and Mounted to 36 x 42 cm.
Publisher:
Pubd. June 4th, 1795, by H. Humphrey, N. 37 New Bond Street
Subject (Name):
George III, King of Great Britain, 1738-1820, Pitt, William, 1759-1806, Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816, Wilberforce, William, 1759-1833, Grafton, Augustus Henry Fitzroy, Duke of, 1735-1811, Norfolk, Charles Howard, Duke of, 1746-1815, Stanhope, Charles Stanhope, Earl, 1753-1816, Lansdowne, William Petty, Marquis of, 1737-1805, Melville, Henry Dundas, Viscount, 1742-1811, Burke, Edmund, 1729-1797, Rosslyn, Alexander Wedderburn, Earl of, 1733-1805, Brothers, Richard, 1757-1824, and Halhed, Nathaniel Brassey, 1751-1830.
"Richard Brothers, dressed as a sansculotte and with the face of a maniac, carries on his back a 'Bundle of the Elect' from which protrude the heads and legs of Fox, Sheridan, Stanhope (in profile to the right), and Lansdowne (in profile to the left). In his left hand is an open book: 'Revelation', and a sword of flame, his right hand points up an ascending path to the 'Gate of Jerusalem' (right); this is a gallows from which hang three nooses; behind it are flames in which demons are flying. He tramples on a seven-headed monster (the Beast of 'Revelation'): on one head, that of the Pope, he puts his foot, another prostrate human head wears a crown and so does the head of a beast breathing fire. The other four heads are those of demons. Two beams of light slant from his forehead, 'Assignats' project from his coat-pocket. Behind walk Jews, the most prominent a pedlar with an open box of trinkets. Beside them walks a fat, disreputable woman holding a bottle inscribed 'Everlasting Life' and a glass. From her pocket hangs a ballad: 'Isabell Wake a new Song to the tune of a Two penny Loaf'. In the foreground (right) St. Paul's, the Monument, a spire and houses are being engulfed in a fiery pit and are breaking to pieces (according to Brothers' prophecy). On the horizon (right) is the sea with the masts of wrecked ships projecting from the waves. Immediately above Brothers is an owl with an olive-branch in its beak, a halo poised whirlpool-like on a point above its head; it clutches a paper inscribed 'Peace'. On the right is the sun, its disk containing a staring face, wearing a bonnet-rouge, and surrounded by the points of a star which drip blood. On the left is a crescent moon in which is a fissure, its arc borders a shaded disk; round this grotesque demons dance in a ring, holding hands."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image. and Temporary local subject terms: Monsters: beast of Revelation -- Bonnets-rouges -- Sansculottes -- Jerusalem -- St. Paul's Cathedral -- Gallows -- Peddlars -- Demons -- Jews.
Publisher:
Pubd. March 5th, 1795, by H. Humphrey, N. 37 New Bond Street
Subject (Name):
Lansdowne, William Petty, Marquis of, 1737-1805, Stanhope, Charles Stanhope, Earl, 1753-1816, Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816, Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, and Brothers, Richard, 1757-1824
