Object types
satirical print (scope note | all objects)
print (scope note | all objects)
Title (object)
The Sound-Head, Rattle-Head, and Round-Head
Materials
paper (all objects)
Techniques
engraving (scope note | all objects)
Production person
Print made by Anonymous (all objects)
Date
1642
Schools /Styles
British (all objects)
Description
Three figures, on the left, is "Sound-Head", an Anglican cleric, pointing with his right hand to a gothic church tower while with his left he presents a book to the central figure labelled "Rattle-Head" who is half-Bishop (intended for Laud) and half-Jesuit (possibly intended for Father Philip, the Queen's chaplain); the Jesuit receives a crucifix from the third figure, labelled "Rount-Head", a catholic monk behind whom is an ecclesiastical building with a statue of the Virgin and Child in a niche; below are anonymous verses in three columns. 1642
Engraving
Dimensions
Height: 220 millimetres
Width: 282 millimetres
Curator's comments
(Text from Antony Griffiths, 'The Print in Stuart Britain 1603-1689', BM 1998, cat. 99)
This print forms part of the propaganda battle between Parliamentarians and Royalists in the run up to the outbreak of hostilities in August 1642. The abusive term 'round-head' is said to have first been used in December 1641 by the royalist Captain Hyde. A spate of pamphlets followed, many of which, like this print, tried to turn the epithet against the royalists. Here the true round-head is shown to be a Catholic friar, who is being handed a crucifix by a Jesuit priest. The Jesuit is only the other half of an Anglican bishop (the Janus-faced 'rattle-head'), who is being handed a tract by a Puritan divine (the 'sound-head'). The text below explains the images, while the churches in the background contrast true religion with Popish ceremony. Thomason placed his impression of this very rare print among other publications from the end of November 1642.
This polemical print does not carry the name of engraver or publisher. Prints such as these, which emerge from the particular political situation of the day, would only have remained in production for a matter of weeks. So, quite part from the possible risks of putting names to them, there would have been little point in doing so; repeat orders over the years were never in question.
Subject
satire (scope note | all objects)
cleric (scope note | all objects)
church of england (all objects)
catholicism (all objects)
Associated names
Representation of William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury (biographical details | all objects)
Representation of Robert Philip (?) (biographical details | all objects)
Acquisition date
1848
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