File:Public credit, or, the state idol. (BM 1868,0808.6063).jpg

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

Original file (1,875 × 2,500 pixels, file size: 877 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Captions

Captions

Add a one-line explanation of what this file represents

Summary

[edit]
Public credit, or, the state idol.   (Wikidata search (Cirrus search) Wikidata query (SPARQL)  Create new Wikidata item based on this file)
Artist

Print made by: William Dent

Published by: James Aitken
Title
Public credit, or, the state idol.
Description
English: The gigantic figure of a man in back view with bared posteriors stands astride facing a gateway; between his legs the interior of a vaulted building recedes in perspective. His arms are raised as if supporting the building, the hands being cut off by the upper margin. The inscription on the bag of his wig: 'For particulars enquire under the Rose' shows that he is George Rose, Secretary to the Treasury. Within the building seen through his legs are two men, minute figures in obsequious attitudes, probably pensioners: one with a wooden leg is Brook Watson; the roof is inscribed 'Treasury Army Navy &c.' Rose's posteriors emit a blast inscribed 'Surplus' which strikes Sheridan, throwing him to the ground. He lies on his back in the foreground with outstretched arms, saying, "This is surely a proof of a Foul Statement". Beside him is a paper inscribed '35 Resolutions'. Fox stands (right) looking down on Sheridan, saying, "This proves the Surplus not a fair one".


On the left is a flight of steps against the left leg of Rose, inscribed 'Sure Steps to Preferment'. The steps are: 'Flattery', 'Humility', 'Pliability', 'Servility', and 'Apostacy'; Burke has reached the top step (Apostasy) and, hat in hand, obseqiously approaches Rose's back. Beneath the title is etched:
'And the* * * * [King] made unto himself a great Idol, the likeness of which teas not in Heavan above, nor in the Earth beneath, and he reared up his Head unto the Clouds, and extended his Arms over all the land, his Legs also were as the Posts of a gate, or as an Arch stretched forth over the Doors of the public Offices; And whoever passed in beneath with idolatrous Reverence First lifted up their Eyes, and kissed the cheeks of the Postern.' 3 June 1791


Hand-coloured etching
Depicted people Associated with: Edmund Burke
Date 1791
date QS:P571,+1791-00-00T00:00:00Z/9
Medium paper
Dimensions
Height: 352 millimetres
Width: 244 millimetres (corner missing)
institution QS:P195,Q6373
Current location
Prints and Drawings
Accession number
1868,0808.6063
Notes

(Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VI, 1938)

The print was probably published to coincide with Sheridan's expected attack on Pitt's finance: on 3 June 1791 he moved, not thirty-five, but forty resolutions on the public income and expenditure, attempting to show that the reports of the Finance Committees in 1786 and 1791, showing a surplus, were fallacious, and making complaints against Pitt's financial measures. 'Parl. Hist.' xxix. 703 ff., cf. BMSat 7842. For Burke's supposed apostasy cf. BMSat 7866, &c.
Source/Photographer https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1868-0808-6063
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 100 years or fewer.

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1929.

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
current08:54, 15 May 2020Thumbnail for version as of 08:54, 15 May 20201,875 × 2,500 (877 KB)Copyfraud (talk | contribs)British Museum public domain uploads (Copyfraud/BM) Satirical prints in the British Museum 1791 #9,582/12,043

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:Public_credit,_or,_the_state_idol._(BM_1868,0808.6063).jpg&oldid=908102841"