File:A new way to pay the national-debt (BM 1868,0808.5519).jpg

From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Original file (1,600 × 1,308 pixels, file size: 523 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Captions

Captions

Add a one-line explanation of what this file represents

Summary

[edit]
A new way to pay the national-debt   (Wikidata search (Cirrus search) Wikidata query (SPARQL)  Create new Wikidata item based on this file)
Artist

Print made by: James Gillray

Published by: William Holland
Title
A new way to pay the national-debt
Description
English: George III and Queen Charlotte stand before the open gate of the Treasury, from which Pitt has just wheeled a barrow laden with money-bags. Pitt, the straps of the barrow round his shoulders, his coat-pocket bulging with guineas, obsequiously hands the king a money-bag. George III stands full-face, legs astride, a money-bag inscribed '£100000' under his right arm, another in his right hand and all his pockets overflowing with guineas. Queen Charlotte (left) stands on his right taking a pinch of snuff, and looking up at him with a smile of greedy and satisfied cunning; in her apron is a heap of guineas. Military officers wearing high cocked hats with feather trimmings (in a French fashion), and long pigtail queues, stand round the King and Queen, in a semicircle, in front of the spiked gates of the Treasury, playing musical instruments: fifes, bassoons, a horn, &c. The pockets of the two in the foreground (left and right) are crammed with guineas, those of the others, presumably equally full, are concealed. They represent the placemen and Ministerialists of the Treasury Bench. The most prominent (right) is probably Lord Sydney. In the foreground (left) an old sailor, armless and with two wooden legs, sits on the ground, his empty hat before him. On the right the Prince of Wales, in rags, hesitates to take a paper inscribed 'Accept £200000 from your Friend Orleans', which a slim and foppish Frenchman, in bag-wig and 'chapeau-bras', standing on the extreme right, offers him, taking his hand. He is very different from the heavily built Due d'Orléans (who succeeded his father in Nov. 1785) who had recently presented his portrait by Reynolds (now at Hampton Court) to the Prince of Wales. He had adopted the English manner of dress and made it fashionable in France. See Britsch, 'La Jeunesse de Philippe Égalité', 1926, pp. 417, 419.


On the Treasury wall is a number of placards and torn shreds of paper: 'Charity A Romance' (torn); 'God save the King' (torn); 'Last Dying Speech of Fifty-Four Malefactors executed for robbing a Hen-Roost', headed by a number of bodies hanging from a gibbet (an allusion to the king's farming activities at Windsor, see BMSat 6918, &c.); a bill headed by a violin and bow and inscribed 'From Germany just arrived a large & Royal Asortment' (on the king's fondness for German musicians); 'Œconomy an old Song' (torn); 'British Property a Farce' (torn); 'Just publish'd for the Benefit of Posterity: The Dying Groans of Liberty'; a placard with the Prince of Wales's feathers and the motto 'Ich Starve' (torn), in place of 'Ich dien', and another with two clasped hands and the word 'Orleans' (torn). The last two are above the heads of the Prince and the Due d'Orléans. After the title is etched, 'Dedicated to Monsr Necker'. 21 April 1786


Hand-coloured etching
Depicted people Associated with: Charlotte, Queen of George III
Date 1786
date QS:P571,+1786-00-00T00:00:00Z/9
Medium paper
Dimensions
Height: 413 millimetres
Width: 513 millimetres
institution QS:P195,Q6373
Current location
Prints and Drawings
Accession number
1868,0808.5519
Notes

(Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VI, 1938) A satire on the debates of 5 and 6 Apr. 1786 on Pitt's motion for a grant of £210,000 to discharge the debts on the Civil List. 'Parl. Hist.' xxv. 1348- 57; Wraxall, 'Memoirs', 1884, iv. 304-7. Fox urged an additional grant for the Prince, whose debts were notorious. For the proposed loan by Orleans see the letter of the Duke of Portland to Sheridan 13 Dec. 1786, quoted, Huish, 'Memoirs of George IV', i. 168-9. Portland was anxious to get rid 'of this odious engagement'. For Necker cf. BMSat 5657 (1780). The first of many allusions to the supposed miserliness of the King and Queen, see BMSat 7836, &c. For the Prince's debts see BMSat 6967, &c.

Grego, 'Gillray', pp. 79-81 (reproduction). Wright and Evans, No. 18.
Source/Photographer https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1868-0808-5519
Permission
(Reusing this file)		 © The Trustees of the British Museum, released as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Licensing

[edit]
This image is in the public domain because it is a mere mechanical scan or photocopy of a public domain original, or – from the available evidence – is so similar to such a scan or photocopy that no copyright protection can be expected to arise. The original itself is in the public domain for the following reason:
Public domain

This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or fewer.

You must also include a United States public domain tag to indicate why this work is in the public domain in the United States.
 Note that a few countries have copyright terms longer than 70 years: Mexico has 100 years, Jamaica has 95 years, Colombia has 80 years, and Guatemala and Samoa have 75 years. This image may not be in the public domain in these countries, which moreover do not implement the rule of the shorter term. Honduras has a general copyright term of 75 years, but it does implement the rule of the shorter term. Copyright may extend on works created by French who died for France in World War II (more information), Russians who served in the Eastern Front of World War II (known as the Great Patriotic War in Russia) and posthumously rehabilitated victims of Soviet repressions (more information).
This file has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights.

This tag is designed for use where there may be a need to assert that any enhancements (eg brightness, contrast, colour-matching, sharpening) are in themselves insufficiently creative to generate a new copyright. It can be used where it is unknown whether any enhancements have been made, as well as when the enhancements are clear but insufficient. For known raw unenhanced scans you can use an appropriate {{PD-old}} tag instead. For usage, see Commons:When to use the PD-scan tag.

Note: This tag applies to scans and photocopies only. For photographs of public domain originals taken from afar, {{PD-Art}} may be applicable. See Commons:When to use the PD-Art tag.

File history

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current15:23, 9 May 2020Thumbnail for version as of 15:23, 9 May 20201,600 × 1,308 (523 KB)Copyfraud (talk | contribs)British Museum public domain uploads (Copyfraud/BM) Satirical prints in the British Museum 1786 #2,896/12,043

You cannot overwrite this file.

Metadata

This file contains additional information such as Exif metadata which may have been added by the digital camera, scanner, or software program used to create or digitize it. If the file has been modified from its original state, some details such as the timestamp may not fully reflect those of the original file. The timestamp is only as accurate as the clock in the camera, and it may be completely wrong.

Retrieved from "https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:A_new_way_to_pay_the_national-debt_(BM_1868,0808.5519).jpg&oldid=778623742"