"Lord Lansdowne sits at a small writing-table, pen in hand, a number of papers before him. Three Jews (left) stand obsequiously on his right, but he turns with his enigmatic smile towards a French post-boy (right), a grotesque dwarfish man with long queue and jack-boots holding his whip and hat, who holds out to him with a cunning smile a paper inscribed: 'My dear Lord Paris 7th Jany 1783 I am happy to hear you have so nearly concluded your Alley Arrangements. The Preliminaries shall be signed coute que coute by the Time you desire, & you may rely on the Courier's arrival on the Eve of the 23d yours truly Billy Paradice [William Eden.]' Under Lansdowne's elbow is a paper inscribed 'Memorandums Pay off the Mortgage on Jesuits Colledge in Berkeley Square - Pay off Solomons any for 500£ pr Annm Inquire what Tayt will take for my Bond for 3000£ given for furniture sold at Christyes'. The foremost Jew holds out to Lansdowne a paper ... On a shelf, inscribed 'Waste Paper', in the upper right corner of the design, are three large bundles of papers: 'Ordnance Estimates', 'State of the National Debt', and 'Civil List'; two piles of documents hang from the shelf. On the wall above Lansdowne's head are two bust portraits: 'John Calvin', wearing a steeple-crowned hat, gown, and bands, and 'Ignatius Loyola', a profile portrait of Burke wearing a Jesuit's biretta as in British Museum Satires No. 6026, &c. 12."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Counterfeit signature; print by Gillray. See British Museum catalogue., Sheet trimmed to within thread margins of plate mark., Temporary local subject terms: Treaties -- Commerical Treaty with France -- National debt -- Civil list -- Military Ordinance -- Allusion to J. Bond -- Allusion to St. Ignatious Loyola -- Allusion to John Calvin -- French post-boy -- Jesuits -- Allusion to William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland, 1744-1814., 1 print : aquatint & etching on laid paper, hand-colored ; plate mark 27.5 x 37.8 cm, on sheet 29.6 x 40.9 cm., and Mounted on leaf 11 of volume 2 of 12.
Publisher:
Pubd. March 12th, 1787, by R. Phillips, Southwke., London
Subject (Name):
Lansdowne, William Petty, Marquis of, 1737-1805 and Burke, Edmund, 1729-1797
Subject (Topic):
Jews, Ethnic stereotypes, Tables, Writing materials, Boots, and Whips
"The artist introduces us to the laboratory of a so-called alchemist. A roguish Jew and his familiar are busily engaged in the transmutation of metals; the servant, with a pair of long- nozzled bellows, is engaged in kindling the furnace, in which is a crucible; various retorts, alembics, and other paraphernalia of the 'black arts,' are scattered about, as well as a formula for 'changing lead into gold'; although the alchemists at best could only contrive to accomplish the reverse transmutation. Suggestive prints are hung on the walls of this chamber of mystery, such as the portrait of the notorious 'Count Cagliostro, discoverer of the Philosopher's Stone,' and the figure of the spurious 'Bottle Conjurer.' A military officer, in the next apartment, is turning his opportunities to more practical advantage by embracing, with a certain display of ardour, a pretty maiden who is nothing loth, the daughter, it appears, of the philosophically minded investigator."--Grego, J. Rowlandson the caricaturist
Alternative Title:
Searching for the philosophers stone
Description:
Title etched below image., Signed in image, lower left., Traces of burnished lettering in lower right corner of design., Not in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires., Temporary local subject terms: Hoaxes: allusion to bottle conjurer -- Male costume -- Furniture: chest -- Philosopher's stone., Temporary local Medical Library subject terms: Sex behavior., 1 print : etching and aquatint on wove paper, hand-colored ; plate mark 30 x 35 cm, on sheet 30.7 x 36.1 cm., and Mounted on leaf 33 of volume 7 of 14 volumes.
Publisher:
Pub. March 12, 1800, at R. Ackermans Repository of the Arts, N. 101 Strand
