An allegorical representation of France with Liberty as a young woman bound and being dragged from a temple, Libertas, by French soldiers to face a angry mob, two decapitated heads at the base of the stairs. One soldier breaks a staff with a liberty cap at the top. A woman kneels a fire which consumes a spinning wheel and is fed books carried by laborers. A crowd of artists, musicians, carpenters, smiths, weavers and other tradesmen are roughly pushed away from the temple by a soldier. In the background a church which has been turned into a theatre attracts a large crowd to a production of "The massacre at Paris."
Description:
Attributed to John Nixon. See British Museum catalogue, no. 8334., Trimmed within plate mark on top and bottom., One line of text below title: This print is most respectfully dedicated to every true hearted Briton who's a friend to his king and country., Four lines from Churchill's poem, Independence, printed in two columns on each side of title: O thou poor country, weak and overpow'rd, By thine own sons, eat to the bone, devour'd ..., Nine lines of explanatory text below image: Liberty is torn from her temple by a hired band of ruffians ... ., and Sheet trimmed to plate mark on bottom with loss of contemporary ms. annotation.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Geographic):
France and France.
Subject (Name):
Paine, Thomas, 1737-1809.
Subject (Topic):
History, Artists, Book burning, Decapitations, Demons, Destruction & pillage, Fools & jesters, Liberty, People associated with manual labor, Trade, Revolutions, and Violence
"The interior of the Foundling Hospital Chapel, seen from the east gallery which stretches across the foreground. In this a man seizes the left. arm of a plainly dressed woman by both hands and attempts to eject her trom a pew. She clings to the back of the seat, and holds up an open book: 'Thou shalt do no Murder Lord have Mercy upon as & incline our hearts to ke[ep] this Law'; this obscures the head of her assailant. Behind the man, is wife, flauntingly dressed, hurries into the pew, clenching her fist. In her right. hand is a long stick whose head is composed of the masks of a man and a cat, back to back. She has ringlets with feathers and drapery in her hair. The other three galleries are crowded. Opposite is the organ, flanked by ascending rows of girls (l.) and boys (r.). A sea of heads is in the body of the church, looking up at the brawl."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title from caption below image., Plate for Sayers' verse satire: Foundling Chapel Brawl. Printed by C. Roworth in Bell Yard, Temple Bar in 1805., Publication information from British Museum catalogue., and Mounted to 31 x 37 cm.
Translated title supplied by curator., Place of publication derived from language of text., Date supplied by curator., and This electronic record is derived from historic data and may not reflect our current information. Review and updating of records is ongoing.
Publisher:
Fine Arts Publishing House and Издательство "Изобразительнос искусство".
Subject (Topic):
Alcoholism, Alcoholism and employment, Drinking of alcoholic beverages, Intoxication, Factories, Violence, and Fighting