"An allegorical design. Britannia, holding her shield and a cap of Liberty on a staff, rushes (right to left) with a calm expression to the edge of a cliff, urged on by Wellington and five other Ministers (scarcely characterized). On her right a man snatches the drapery from a small cloud-borne figure of Fortune with her wheel, who is directed towards an oval portrait of Queen Caroline supported by an angel. Fame holds a laurel wreath above the portrait. Below the cliff or rock from which Britannia steps so heedlessly is a patch of ground surrounded by sea. On this stands Burdett, holding out a scroll inscribed 'Magna Char[ta] Liberty of Napoleon' and holding out his left arm to prevent Britannia from falling. Justice stands behind him, holding evenly balanced scales. Four other men stand close behind him, one holding out a scroll inscribed 'Reform', and supporting the arm which holds the scales. A man in shirt-sleeves kneels at Burdett's feet, making a gesture of urgent entreaty. On a rock (right), symbolizing St. Helena but merging with Britannia's cliff, sits a spotted, sub-human Caliban-like creature, who holds a small image of Napoleon, which he is about to cover with an extinguisher. At the base of the rock, but in the background, are two tiny officers in military uniform, seated together at the edge of the sea, directed to the right. In the foreground (left) sits a woman (? France) in classical draperies, holding a sceptre, with a (? Bourbon) crown falling from her head, and with a second (? imperial) crown in her lap. She gazes towards St. Helena. Inset in the title and enclosed within a border inscribed 'Honi soit qui mal y pense': 'Wilson sçut délivrer une Noble victime Burdett, Hobhouse, Holland, sauvez Napoléon, Arrachez-le aux tourmens de l'exécrable Hudson, Vengez l'honneur Anglais flétri par un grand Crime Et sauvez Albion sur le Bord de l'Abême [sic]!!!'."--British Museum online catalogue, description of a later state
Alternative Title:
Nation and her m-n-t-r's and Nation and her ministers
Description:
Title etched below image., Early state, before border and imprint statement added. For a later state with border present and the imprint "Pubd. by Milleville, Hampstead" etched in lower left, see no. 14050 in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum, v. 10., Mounted to 58 x 39 cm., Mounted (with one other print) on leaf 90 in volume 2 of the W.E. Gladstone collection of caricatures and broadsides surrounding the "Queen Caroline Affair.", and Typed extract of twenty-nine lines from the British Museum catalogue description is pasted opposite (on verso of preceding leaf).
Publisher:
John Milleville?
Subject (Geographic):
Saint Helena,
Subject (Name):
Caroline, Queen, consort of George IV, King of Great Britain, 1768-1821., Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of, 1769-1852, Burdett, Francis, 1770-1844, Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821., Broughton, John Cam Hobhouse, Baron, 1786-1869., Wilson, Robert, Sir, 1777-1849., Holland, Henry Richard Vassall, Baron, 1773-1840., Lowe, Hudson, Sir, 1769-1844., and La Valette, Antoine-Marie Chamans, comte de, 1769-1830.
Subject (Topic):
Britannia (Symbolic character), Cliffs, Shields, Liberty cap, Angels, Justice, Scales, Military officers, and Crowns
"Queen Caroline reaches the top step of a flimsy double-ladder, pushed by the foremost of a train of gnome-like Jacobins who scramble up behind her or wait (right) to ascend. She holds a blazing firebrand (cf. British Museum Satires No. 14145) emitting clouds of smoke, with which she tries to reach the royal crown (irradiated), which rests on a cushion and Bible, on the summit of a pillar representing the Constitution. A mitre and crosier are carved on the pillar which is spiralled with a band inscribed (reading upwards) 'Commons', 'Lords', 'King'. On the square base are the equally balanced scales of Justice. The Queen wears a feathered hat and an enormously long cloak, under which the Radicals on the ladder are sheltering. These wear caps of Liberty (or Folly) with tricolour cockades; one has a dagger, one a pike, one (Hunt) a bludgeon, one holds the shaft of a banner, inscribed 'Democracy Republic', topped by a cap of Liberty. The rungs of the ladder are: 'Spa Fields Riot'; 'Smithfield', Hunt climbs from one to the other; 'Hunts Procession'; 'Peter[loo]'; 'Cato Stre[et', see No. 13707, &c.]; 'Queens Arrival' [see No. 13730, &c.]; 'Radical Address' [see British Museum Satires No. 13934, &c.]; 'Mob Government' [the top]. The back of the ladder (reading downwards): 'Revolution'; 'Anarchy'; 'Ruin'."--British Museum online catalogue, description of a smaller version of the same design
Description:
Title etched below image., A smaller version of this design, signed "G. Cruikshank fect.", was published October 1820 as a plate to The Loyalist's magazine; see no. 13895 in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum, v. 10. This larger version is briefly mentioned at the end of the above catalogue entry: "An enlarged version was published by Humphrey, 12 Aug. 1821 ...", Sheet trimmed within plate mark., Temporary local subject terms: Jacobins -- Firebrands -- Royal crowns -- Constitution -- Mitre and crosier -- Scales of justice -- Cap of folly -- Daggers -- Weapons: pike, bludgeon -- Sticks: bludgeon., Mounted to 58 x 39 cm., Mounted on leaf 102 in volume 2 of the W.E. Gladstone collection of caricatures and broadsides surrounding the "Queen Caroline Affair.", and Figure of "Caroline" identified in pencil below image. Typed extract of fourteen lines from the British Museum catalogue description for No. 13895 (which mentions this print) is pasted beneath print.
Publisher:
Published by G. Humphrey, 27 St. James's St.
Subject (Name):
Caroline, Queen, consort of George IV, King of Great Britain, 1768-1821, George IV, King of Great Britain, 1762-1830., and Hunt, Henry, 1773-1835
Subject (Topic):
Cato Street Conspiracy, 1820, Spa Fields Riot, London, England, 1816, Ladders, Columns, Torches, Crowns, Bibles, Capes (Clothing), Liberty cap, Daggers, and Scales
A ragged sansculotte sits astride a lamp brackets high above a square where a crowd, all wearing bonnets-rouges and all watching the beheading of Louis XVI. He fiddles as he smiles down at the scene. Hanging below him from the same lamp post are two monks and a bishop, their hands bound. Further in the distance are more hung bodies and a cathedral in flames
Alternative Title:
Pinnacle of liberty
Description:
Title etched below image, left., One line of text below title: Religion, justice, loyalty, & all the bugbears of unenlighten'd minds, farewell!, 1 print : etching on wove paper, hand-colored ; plate mark 35.5 x 25.1 cm, on sheet 40.4 x 30.1 cm., and Mounted on leaf 26 of volume 3 of 12.
Publisher:
Pubd. Feby. 12th, 1793, by H. Humphrey, No. 18 Old Bond Street
Subject (Geographic):
France and France.
Subject (Name):
Louis XVI, King of France, 1754-1793
Subject (Topic):
Death and burial, Sansculottes, History, Clergy, Crowds, Fires, Guillotines (Punishment), Hangings (Executions), Liberty cap, Revolutions, and Scales
