Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

The blessings of peace ... ; The curses of war ... / design'd & engrav'd by Js Gy for the chairman & members of the Crown & Anchor Society.

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James Gillray
1756-1815

The blessings of peace ... ; The curses of war ... / design'd & engrav'd by Js Gy for the chairman & members of the Crown & Anchor Society.

[London] : Pubd Jany 12th 1795 by H. Humphrey, No 37 New Bond Street, [1795]
aquatint, hand colored
image: 289 x 362 mm; trimmed sheet: 310 x 376 mm
Bequest of Gordon N. Ray, 1987.
1986.725
Notes
Above the two circles: 'Such Britain was! - Such Flanders, Spain, Holland, now is!' Between them: 'from such a sad reverse O Gracious God, preserve our Country!!'; directly below the titles is etched: 'To the People & the Parliament of Great-Britain, this Print is dedicated, by the Crown & Anchor Society.
At foot of sheet: "Curs'd be the Man who owes his Greatness to his Country's Ruin!!!!!
Provenance

From the library of Gordon N. Ray.

Summary

A design in two adjacent circles, with inscriptions above and below the circles on an aquatinted ground. [1] The kitchen of a young English farmer who sits with his arm round a little boy (right) who stands at his knee eating an apple, while his pretty wife (left) holds out a buxom child to kiss him. He holds a sickle. A dog sits at his feet. Behind (right), before a blazing fire, a young woman places a sirloin of beef upon a round table, laid for a meal, with a large pitcher beside it. A pestle and mortar and other brass utensils are neatly ranged on the chimney-piece, beside which is a spit. A ham and string of onions hang on the wall. Through an open door (left) are a hen and chickens, two pigs feeding in a stye, and a haystack. The title continues: 'Prosperity & Domestick-Happiness.' [2] A young farmer lies stabbed to the heart by a bayonet, surrounded by his despairing and terrified wife and three children. Behind (right) is a ruined house. In the background (left) French soldiers are driving off sheep and cattle, and a village (right) is in flames. Behind is the sea with ships of war at anchor. The title continues: 'Invasion, Massacre & Desolation.'

Associated names
Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher.
Ray, Gordon N. (Gordon Norton), 1915-1986, former owner.
Classification
Department
Century prints