A grotesquely caricatured, thin and ragged Tom Paine, dressed as a tailor with huge scissors hanging from his pants, kneels before a gigantic crown; he uses a tape measure to determine its dimensions. He wears a French-style hat with a cockade inscribed "vive la liberty". He ruminates on his task,a satire on the first part of his Rights of man.
Alternative Title:
Tommy Paine, the little American taylor, taking the measure of the crown for a new pair of revolution breeches
Description:
At top of design: Humbly dedicated to the Jacobine clubs of France and England by Common Sense. "These are your gods, O, Israel!", Plate shows signs of reworking; 'the' following 'Tommy Paine' in title etched twice, with the repeated word on the second line of title scored through and mostly burnished from plate., Printmaker from British Museum catalogue., and Title etched below image.
Publisher:
H. Humphrey, New Bond Street
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Burke, Edmund,--1729-1797.--Reflections on the Revolution in France., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., Paine, Thomas,--1737-1809.--Rights of man., and Paine, Thomas,--1737-1809--Caricatures and cartoons.
A gallows separates the design into two compartments. A sign in the center reads "Roberspierre, Marat, Santerre." The crossbar reads "Held up to infamy and posterity." Another sign hangs from the left arm and reads "Paine's Rights of Man." The sign on the right side reads "Classical lectures on the Roman History.", The scene on the left half is labelled at the top "Old England" and depicts naval and commercial prosperity under the bright skies. Three columns labelled Virtue, Honor and Loyalty stand over the words British Constitution; at the base of the drawing are the words "is basis, the happiness of the people.", and The scene on the right half is labelled at the top "New France", and in contrast, all is death and destruction: cities in ruins, bodies hanging from gallows, a bloody guillotine along with other instruments of torture. Flowing from the guillotine into a shaft underground are discarded fragments: religion, pubk. credit, monarchy, laws, trade, honor, loyality, virtue, art ...
Alternative Title:
Things as they are
Subject (Geographic):
France--History--Revolution, 1789-1799.
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., and Paine, Thomas,--1737-1809.--Rights of man.
Subject (Topic):
Democracy. , Gallows., Guillotines (Punishment), Liberty cap. , Revolutions--French., Ruins., and Ships.
