Accession number
PML 146857.117
Creator
Sayers, James, 1748-1823.
Published
[London] : Publd. by Tho. Cornell, 18th June 1792.
Credit line
Bequest of Gordon N. Ray, 1987.
Notes
Item no. 117 of a collection of prints by James Sayers (PML 146857); formerly part of an album of mounted prints, now disbound.
Description
1 print on wove paper : etching ; image: 262 x 197 mm; plate mark: 276 x 200 mm; sheet: 294 x 230 mm
Provenance
From the library of Gordon N. Ray.
Summary
Print shows the interior of a hall intended for the French National Assembly. On the extreme left a large tub raised from the ground serves as tribune, its right half only being visible; from this leans a grotesquely caricatured and foppish Frenchman, blowing a trumpet. In his right hand are leading-strings supporting a lean youth who stands on the floor leaning forward, a firebrand in his left hand, an electrical rod in his right. From the trumpet of François (de Neufchâteau) issue the words "Voici un beau Garçon le fils de Dr Pr***tly grand Democrat &c." Young Priestley addresses the members who are seated on the extreme right under a gallery, travestied as men with the heads of animals (an ass, two frogs, an owl, a boar); he says, "Papa sends me to you for Improvement I will bear true Allegiance &c." They put their fingers to his electrical rod, which emits sparks. This rod is connected by a chain with a large jar inscribed "Phlogiston from Hackney College". Above the members the corner of a gallery appears from which three grinning fishwives look down. In the back wall is a large Gothic window. Cf. George.
Classification
Catalog link
Department