"A companion print to British Museum Satires nos. 6700, 6701, 6703. An enormous balloon not completely inflated rests on a platform suspended between two masts; it is exploding, flames and thick clouds of smoke pour from a crease in its contour, a number of men with faggots on their backs run from the balloon, others are on the platform, which is covered by a large cloth or net which hangs in folds. In the air (left), as if having sprung from the exploding part of the balloon, is a small balloon in the form of a head, identical with that in British Museum Satires No. 6704, with the same inscription and passenger. From it streams, in place of a rope, the tail of a kite. This evidently represents the bursting of Keegan's balloon in the garden of Foley House. A circle of posts with a rope keeps the spectators, who are fashionably dressed, from the balloon. Two men inside the barrier (right), probably Blanchard and Sheldon, who was to be pilot (see British Museum Satires No. 6703) run towards the balloon shouting directions through speaking-trumpets. In the foreground is one of the small balloons which were commonly sent up on the occasion of an ascent, cf. British Museum Satires No. 6668. In the background are trees. A number of spectators watch from the top of the high garden-wall (left). [Foley House was noted for its extremely high wall. 'Town and Country Magazine' xvi, 625] Behind are houses, evidently those in or near Portland Place. Sheldon's projected ascent ended in disaster on 25 Sept. 1784. He attempted to fill a balloon more than three times the size of Lunardi's by heated or rarefied air produced by a furnace suspended below the balloon. The balloon was supported on two masts and on a platform; it burst while it was being filled. See 'London Chronicle', Sept. 24, 28, 29. Except for the contour of the balloon which appears to burlesque human posteriors, and for the little balloon in the shape of a fool's head, this is probably a realistic rendering of the scene, see British Museum Satires No. 6703."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Printmaker and date of publication from British Museum catalogue., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., and Matted to 33 x 43 cm.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Name):
Blanchard, Jean-Pierre, 1753-1809., Sheldon, John, 1752-1808., and Lunardi, Vincent, 1759-1806.
Subject (Topic):
Balloons (Aircraft), Aircraft accidents, Fires, and Spectators
