"The 'Gods', Hawkesbury, Addington, St. Vincent, lean down from the clouds to defend the 'Treasury' against the assault of the 'Giants', different groups of the Opposition forming a pyramid in the lower, and larger, part of the design. [These identifications are those of Miss Banks (on a B.M. print) confirmed by Lord Holland, who omits Lord Spencer but adds Tierney, called by Miss Banks 'no particular person'. The identifications of Wright and Evans are in several cases incorrect. Grego substitutes Lord Mulgrave for Dr. Lawrence (or Spencer) and omits Spencer and others. Lord Holland notes that only the portraits of Pitt, Addington, Fox, Norfolk, Buckingham, Grenville, and Derby are like their subjects.] These are grouped on rocks, and are naked or nearly so (with one exception). At the apex of the pyramid are Pitt and Dundas, smaller and less dangerous than Fox in the foreground (left). Pitt, much emaciated, stands with legs astride, looking up, and about to hurl a large bundle of papers: 'Knock-down Arguments'; two similar bundles lie at his feet: 'Death and Eternal Sleep' [cf. BMSat 8350], and 'Coup de Grace'. He wears a military cocked hat, jack-boots, and a sword-belt from which hangs a sabre, indicating his volunteer activities (see BMSat 10113, &c); round his loins is a girdle of grapes and vine-leaves (cf. BMSat 8798). Melville (Dundas), behind and below Pitt, raises a sword inscribed 'True Andrew-Ferrara' and a shield; he wears a Scots bonnet; a tartan plaid and kilt adorn his burly nudity. At Pitt's feet stands Wilberforce, a dwarf, holding a large volume, Duty of Man, and directing upwards a fountain which can never approach the clouds. On the lower part of this rock stands Canning, in an attitude like that of Pitt, prepared to hurl a bulky sheaf of papers: 'Killing Detections'; he registers sly amusement, and wears a girdle of feathers suggestive of a Red Indian. From behind the rock appear two shadowy figures, each with the pen in his mouth that indicates a Treasury secretary; one prepares to hurl a bundle of 'Charges', the other, below him, has a bundle of 'Long Charges'. They are Rose and Long, ex-Treasury secretaries, see BMSat 9722. In the foreground (left) is a lower rocky platform on which the obese Buckingham and his burly brother Lord Grenville hold up Fox by the legs. Fox, bulky and hairy, fires a blast of flame, smoke, and bullets from a blunderbuss', doing more execution than all the others together. He is completely nude; drapery hangs from the shoulders of his two supporters, and the pompous Buckingham wears spectacles and Garter ribbon. All register satisfaction, rather than ardour like the Pittites. Beside their rock, and on the extreme left are supporters of Fox: Norfolk with a kettle-drum slung from his neck on which he is performing with two wine-bottles (cf. BMSat 9261). Behind him is Carlisle, banging a marrow-bone on a cleaver inscribed 'Coalition Roast Beef' [reminiscent of the Foxite butchers at Westminster elections]. The profile of Burdett is on the extreme left; he wears a hat on which is a ribbon: 'no Bastile' [see BMSat 9878, &c], and holds a fringed banner on which are equally balanced scales and the motto 'In hoc Signo Vinces' [cf. BMSat 10416]; on its spear-point is poised a cap of liberty terminating in the bell that indicates Folly. Behind him an arm holds up a trumpet to which is attached a banner inscribed 'Honor Property Ability' [symbolic of the Whig oligarchy and stressing the gulf between Foxites and the supposedly levelling Burdett]. ..."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Giants storming heaven
Description:
Title etched below image., Two lines of text below title: "They never complain'd of fatigue, but like giants refreshed, were ready to enter immediately upon the attack! Vide Lord Ch--c-ll-r's Speech, 24th April 1804. "Not to destroy! but root them out of heaven." Milton., and Mounted on leaf 72 of volume 5 of 12.
Publisher:
Pubd. May 1st, 1804, by H. Humphrey, 27 St. James's Street
Subject (Name):
Sidmouth, Henry Addington, Viscount, 1757-1844, Liverpool, Robert Banks Jenkinson, Earl of, 1770-1828, St. Vincent, John Jervis, Viscount, 1735-1823, Pitt, William, 1759-1806, Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, Melville, Henry Dundas, Viscount, 1742-1811, Wilberforce, William, 1759-1833, Canning, George, 1770-1827, Rose, George, 1744-1818, Long, Charles, 1761-1838, Grenville, William Wyndham Grenville, Baron, 1759-1834, Buckingham, George Nugent Temple Grenville, Marquess of, 1753-1813, Carlisle, Frederick Howard, Earl of, 1748-1825, Norfolk, Charles Howard, Duke of, 1746-1815, Spencer, George John Spencer, Earl, 1758-1834, Windham, William, 1750-1810, Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816, Taylor, Michael Angelo, 1757-1834, Smith-Stanley, Edward, 1752-1834, Stanhope, Charles Stanhope, Earl, 1753-1816, Grey, Charles Grey, Earl, 1764-1845, Erskine, Thomas Erskine, Baron, 1750-1823, Tierney, George, 1761-1830, and Jones, Thomas Tyrwhitt, Sir, 1765-1811
