print;
broadside
- Museum number
- 1865,0610.1094
- Title
- Object: The Whole State of Europe. Or an Hieroglyphick for the Election of an Emperor of Germany
- Description
-
For description, see 1868,0808.3671 and 3672.
- Production date
- 1741
- Dimensions
-
Height: 318 millimetres
-
Width: 444 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- The Holy Roman emperor Charles VI died on 20.10.1740 and was to be succeeded by his daughter Maria Theresa, wife of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Francis Stephen of Lorraine. This transition was challenged by Prussia (invading the Habsburg province Silesia in December 1740), and later by other countries (France, Bavaria, Spain, Saxony). The Electors of the Holy Roman Empire rejected the candidacy of Maria Theresa’s husband in January 1742, instead deciding for Elector Charles Albert of Bavaria, who was crowned Charles VII in February 1742.
The engraved text states that this broadside is an explanation of "those Three curious Emblematick Capital Painting of Sr R----t W----l's at his House in Chelsea" . Robert Walpole collected around 400 paintings (Houghton Hall Collection; today most of them in the Hermitage, St Petersburg). Some of them hung in his house in Chelsea (Orford House), but it is unclear to which paintings this statement refers.
There is a separate sheet with letterpress verses and a key to the broadside, see BM 1868-8-8-3672. BM Satires believes that the plate and text belong together, but the text may have been printed later.
- Location
- Not on display
- Associated events
- Associated Event: War of Austrian Succession 1740-1748
- Acquisition date
- 1865
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1865,0610.1094
