print;
satirical print
- Museum number
- 1868,0612.1251
- Title
- Object: A dissection.
- Description
-
A nude body of classically correct proportions stands full-face with extended arms; it has two (identical) profiles of Pitt. The centre of the body is opened to show the organs and the interior of the head. A (small) explosion from the top of the head is inscribed: 'Ingenuity Invention &c &c.' The exterior of the body has inscriptions which are repeated on each side, for each profile and each limb: the hair is 'Exempt from the Powder Tax'; the eye is 'Discernment', the nose is 'Very Acute', the mouth is 'Eloquence', the chin is 'Elevated with Dignity', the shoulders 'Exempt from Burthens', the elbows 'Accomodating Muscles', the hands 'Open to Conviction', the pelvis 'Immaculate', the thighs 'Strength of Party', the knees 'Flexibility', the shins 'Power', the feet 'Firmness'. The interior of the body has a contrasting set of inscriptions: the brain is 'Calculations', the tongue 'Flattery', the gullet 'Epicurism', the ribs 'influence', the heart (with a border of coins) 'Money', the stomach 'Claret and Red Port' (cf. BMSat 8683), the entrails 'Subsidies' (cf. BMSat 8821, &c). 14 May 1797
Hand-coloured etching
- Production date
- 1797
- Dimensions
-
Height: 386 millimetres
-
Width: 246 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VII, 1942)
See 'Dissection of Mr. Pitt' (from the 'Telegraph') in 'Spirit of the Public Journals for 1797', 1798, pp. 25-7). Cf. BMSat 6257, a dissection of North and Fox, and BMSat 8291, a dissection of Fox.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1868,0612.1251
