Price: SOLD
SKU: 34721
ARTIST: James Gillray
PUBLISHER: Published by W. Humphrey, No. 227 Strand, London. Aprl. 4th 1783
MEDIUM: Etching,
DATE: 1783
EDITION SIZE: Image size 9 1/4 x 13 3/8" (23.5 x 34 cm).
DESCRIPTION: In the period following the American Revolution both England and the Continent were plagued with disputes, and peace was replaced by internal unrest and foreign quarrels. This clever satire comments on this tumultuous period in European history. In the upper right corner, a demon flies off in the direction of America with a map of the new nation. A flatulent cloud follows him with the taunting words “Poor John Bull, Ha! Ha! Ha!”. In reference to American independence, England, represented as a corpulent John Bull, throws his hand up in the air and cries “Tis Lost! Irrecoverably lost!”. France, portrayed as a foppish dandy, consoles John Bull by offering him a pinch of snuff and proclaims, “Ah. Ah. Me Lord Angla, volez vous une pince de Snuff, for the Diable will not give you back de Amerique”. Spain, in the dress of a Don relays angry comments on the loss of Gibraltar. A Dutchman wearing a flowerpot as a hat laments the fall of the Dutch Empire. Throughout the Revolution the fort at Gibraltar had been a subject of heated dispute across Europe. Spain was induced to enter the Revolution by an assurance of French aid in regaining the strategic fort, but the war ended with England still firmly in control of Gibraltar. The disastrous battle scene in the background of the image is an allusion to the continued struggle for possession.
ADDITIONAL INFO:
CONDITION: Good condition.
REFERENCE: George, Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires..in the British Museum no. 6210; Dolmetsch, Rebe
Login / Register
Basket
