"Satire on the popularity of the Beggar's Opera in the form of a medley print. At top left a print shows two oval portraits, Lavinia Fenton as Polly Peachum on the left and Thomas Walker as Macheath on the right, two short columns of verse beneath. In the centre lies a print depicting a debased Parnassus: in the foreground muses drink from a barrel, one vomiting; a woman wearing a hat hands a basket to a muse sitting in a dust-cart drawn by a Pegasus; a cornucopia lies upended on the ground: in the background, is a boxing match surrounded on two sides with a temporary stand from which flies the flag of St George and to the right of which a bull and a bear are preceded by Apollo playing a fiddle; beneath are four lines of verse describing the scene. Behind the Parnassus print another shows the ghost of Jeremy Collier rising from his grave holding the pamphlet in which he had condemned "The Immoratlities of the English Stage", four lines of verse beneath. This print is overlaid by a smaller oblong print with four verses and portraits of Caleb D'Anvers (Nicholas Amhurst) Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope and Lavinia Fenton (as Polly Peachum). On the left is a print in which Democritus and Heraclitus examine a globe together, eight lines of verse beneath. In the centre is an engraved address 'To Polly Peachum' quoted, according to the earlier state from The Daily Journal, April 19, 1728. At lower left is a print with a stage where a Apollo descends on a cloud to judge between rival singers (Faustina and Cuzzoni) to whom a group of gentlemen with asses' ears listen without judgement, two columns of verse beneath explain the scene. On the right, a scene by a river where a balance has been set up in which the Beggar's Opera outweighs Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Addison, Nicholas Rowe and Thomas Otway; the personification of trade collapses in the arms of George II, assisted by Queen Caroline; verses beneath claim that the popularity of the Beggar's Opera is indicative of the sorry state of the country. At bottom right is a scene in Newgate with men and women sitting round a table on which is a punch bowl and pipes; they are toasting a laureated John Gay who sits at the centre, saying 'The Beggers Opera for yr', 'G(a)y for ever', 'Let's vote him King of the Beggers' and he responds, 'Yov'e done me too great an honour but I'll -'; a small child stands beside the table; two columns of verse beneath."-- British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title from text engraved above image., "Poet G-" refers to John Gay., Later state, lacking references to 'Daily Journal April 19th. 1728' below the verses "to the Tune of the Soldier and ye Sailor" and to 'Daily Journal April 10 1798' below those "To Polly Peacham". Cf. Compare no. 1806 in v. 2 of Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., and Mounted to 45 x 34 cm.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain
Subject (Name):
Gay, John, 1685-1732, Gay, John, 1685-1732., Fenton, Lavinia, 1708-1760, Walker, Thomas, 1698-1744, Collier, Jeremy, 1650-1726, Bordoni, Faustina, 1697-1781., Amhurst, N. 1697-1742. (Nicholas),, George II, King of Great Britain, 1683-1760., Caroline, Queen, consort of George II, King of Great Britain, 1683-1737., Swift, Jonathan, 1667-1745., Pope, Alexander, 1688-1744., Heraclitus, of Ephesus., Democritus, approximately 460 B.C.-approximately 370 B.C., and Cuzzoni, Francesca, 1696-1778.
Subject (Topic):
Social life and customs, Anecdotes, facetiae, satire, etc, Pegasus (Greek mythology), Apollo, Muses (Greek deities), Parnassus, Mount (Greece), Prints, Prisons, and Theaters
Title from annotation on verso., Probably a proof state., Date of publication from unverified data in local card catalog record., Sheet trimmed to plate mark., and Annotated by Horace Walpole in pencil on verso: Abbè de Marolly.
Portrait of the chronologer William Parsons; bust, in profile to the right, with long hair, wearing breast plate and cloak; in decorated roundel
Description:
Title and statement of responsibility from annotations at bottom of sheet., Date of publication based on printmaker's death date., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., and Annotated by Horace Walpole in ink at bottom of sheet: Coll. Parsons ; S.G.
McArdell, James, approximately 1729-1765, printmaker
Published / Created:
[between 1742 and 1765]
Call Number:
Folio 33 30 Copy 11
Image Count:
1
Resource Type:
still image
Abstract:
"Portrait of François du Quesnoy almost half-length to left and holding statuette of three putti, eyes to front, wearing broad-brimmed hat and wide collar."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title, printmaker, and state from: Smith, J.C. British mezzotinto portraits., Proof before letters., Date range for publication from British Museum online catalogue, registration no.: 1902,1011.3256., Sheet trimmed within plate mark on bottom edge., Mounted on page 200 of Richard Bull's copiously extra-illustrated copy of: Walpole, H. A description of the villa of Mr. Horace Walpole. Strawberry Hill : Printed by Thomas Kirgate, 1784. See Hazen, A.T. Bibliography of the Strawberry Hill Press (1973 ed.), no. 30, copy 13., 1 print : mezzotint on laid paper ; sheet 33.1 x 22.8 cm., Sheet trimmed to plate mark., Manuscript title in ink below image: Fiamingo., and For further information, consult library staff.
"Portrait, half-length seated directed slightly to left,looking away, right arm thrown out, left hand at his lapel, the elbow porpped on a table beside a volume labelled 'Shakspeare', wearing a double-breasted coat with a high collar and a frilled white cravat; before letters or border."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title from lettered state., Artist and printmaker from statements of responsibility on lettered state: M.A. Shee R.A. pinxt. ; W. Sharp sculpt., First state according to Baker, before letters or border., and For a lettered state with the imprint "London, Published by W. Sharp, April 7, 1803," see British Museum online catalogue, registration no.: 1841,0809.180.
"Portrait, half-length seated directed slightly to left,looking away, right arm thrown out, left hand at his lapel, the elbow porpped on a table beside a volume labelled 'Shakspeare', wearing a double-breasted coat with a high collar and a frilled white cravat."--British Museum online catalogue, description of a later state
Description:
Title from lettered state., Artist and printmaker from statements of responsibility on lettered state: M.A. Shee R.A. pinxt. ; W. Sharp sculpt., Second state according to Baker, before letters but with the border., For a lettered state with the imprint "London, Published by W. Sharp, April 7, 1803," see British Museum online catalogue, registration no.: 1841,0809.180., and Sheet trimmed to plate mark.
McArdell, James, approximately 1729-1765, printmaker
Published / Created:
[1764?]
Call Number:
Folio 33 30 Copy 11
Image Count:
1
Resource Type:
still image
Abstract:
"Portrait of Louis Jules Barbon Mancini Mazarini, Duke of Nivernois; seen bust-length to right, eyes to front, wearing sash, lace collar, and his hair powdered and tied with ribbon; after Ramsay."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title from lettered state., Artist and printmaker from statements of responsibility on lettered state: A. Ramsay pinxt. ; J. McArdell fecit., Proof state before letters added; for later states with lettering, see: Smith, J.C. British mezzotinto portraits, v. 2, no. 140, pages 885-886., Date of publication from the British Museum online catalogue, registration no.: 1872,1012.4085., Sheet trimmed within plate mark on bottom edge., Mounted on page 244 of Richard Bull's copiously extra-illustrated copy of: Walpole, H. A description of the villa of Mr. Horace Walpole. Strawberry Hill : Printed by Thomas Kirgate, 1784. See Hazen, A.T. Bibliography of the Strawberry Hill Press (1973 ed.), no. 30, copy 13., and For further information, consult library staff.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Name):
Nivernais, Louis Jules Barbon Mancini-Mazarini, duc de, 1716-1798,
Portrait of John Mann, Secretary of the Hand-in-Hand Fire Office from 1730 until his death in 1776; half-length, looking slightly right; wearing a long wig and an unbuttoned jacket
Description:
Title from annotation on mount., Date of publication based on sitter's death date., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., Mounted on wove paper to 18 x 13 cm., and Annotated by Thomas Kirgate in ink on mount: Mr. Mann, of the Hand in Hand Fire Office.
Title from contemporary manuscript note in ink below image., Date of publication based on death date of Horace Walpole, who included an impression of this print in an extra-illustrated copy of A description of the villa of Mr. Horace Walpole., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., Number "1" etched above image., and Mounted on page 101 of Horace Walpole's extra-illustrated copy of his: A description of the villa of Mr. Horace Walpole. Strawberry Hill : Printed by Thomas Kirgate, 1784. See Hazen, A.T. Bibliography of the Strawberry Hill Press (1973 ed.), no. 30, copy 12.