File:Britannia in Distress under a Tott'ring Fabrick with a Cumberous Load. (BM 1868,0808.4011).jpg

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Britannia in Distress under a Tott'ring Fabrick with a Cumberous Load.   (Wikidata search (Cirrus search) Wikidata query (SPARQL)  Create new Wikidata item based on this file)
Title
Britannia in Distress under a Tott'ring Fabrick with a Cumberous Load.
Description
English: Satire on the Newcastle administration, suggesting that the personal greed of ministers was destroying the national economy. The state is shown as classical structure whose supporting columns and caryatids ('Trade' and 'Publick Credit') are collapsing under the weight of a huge bag containing £80.000,000; Britannia who sits below cries, 'Oh thoughtless Sons know you not in destoying me you destroy your selves.' The bag is pushed by 'Vote buying Members' and 'A Parcel of Poor Men of mean fortunes of 8, 10, or 20,00 p. Ann ....'; behind them is a group of heedless pleasure seekers including two men kissing, ladies interested in 'New Opera' and card-playing, modern scholars who destroy biblical teaching, thoughtless Bacchus, Folly holding rods with ribbons celebrating 'Masqueratdes, Ridottas, Drums, Hurricanes, Racketts, Plays, Dress, Sloth, &c., &c.' with a dice box, dice and masks, and men chasing butterflies or blowing bubbles. Attempts are made to shore up the structure with a number of props by two patriots (one of whom may be intended for William Pitt); they labour in vain to introduce economic stabilty and to eliminate corruption. At their feet sit two tradesmen in despair, holding respectively a hammer and a weaving shuttle. On the right, four government ministers pull on ropes to bring down the bag of money and, by implication, the state: Anson with a fish hanging from his sash; Harwicke with an eagle holding a book; Newcastle; and Fox.
Etching
Depicted people Representation of: William Pitt the Elder, 1st Earl of Chatham
Date circa 1756
date QS:P571,+1756-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1480,Q5727902
Medium paper
Dimensions
Height: 345 millimetres (cropped)
Width: 232 millimetres (cropped)
institution QS:P195,Q6373
Current location
Prints and Drawings
Accession number
1868,0808.4011
Notes

For a proof before letter, see 1868,0808.4012.

The preliminary drawing is at the Yale Center for British Art (B1977.14.5393)
Source/Photographer https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1868-0808-4011
Permission
(Reusing this file)
© The Trustees of the British Museum, released as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

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Public domain

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Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current02:29, 16 May 2020Thumbnail for version as of 02:29, 16 May 20201,669 × 2,500 (1.36 MB)Copyfraud (talk | contribs)British Museum public domain uploads (Copyfraud/BM) Satirical prints in the British Museum 1756 #11,657/12,043

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