print; satirical print

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Object Type: print; satirical print
Museum number: 1868,0808.13709
Title: Object: The true Holy Alliance storming the Fortress of Superstition
Description: An elaborate allegorical composition. Wellington leads his supporters to the assault across fragments of masonry inscribed 'Ruins of the Test Act'. Behind them is a solidly built fortification, 'Common Sense Battery', whose guns fire over their heads at the more elaborate defences on the right. He and his chief followers are armed with rolled documents. He wears military dress with trousers and without sword. Just behind him are Peel and Lyndhurst (in wig and gown). Peel wears an academic gown; his mortar-board cap, inscribed 'Oxford', has just been knocked off by a cannon-ball (see BM Satires No. 15683, &c). A good-looking young man (Lord Aberdeen) encourages others who are cut off by the left margin. Behind him (left to right) are Grey, Burdett, and Scarlett. Above their heads are those manning the 'Catholic' battery; among fourteen Brougham is conspicuous in wig and gown; one resembles Lord Holland. Operations are directed by two officers standing behind; one is Anglesey in hussar uniform, the other is probably General Sir George Murray, Colonial Secretary. There are two mitred bishops, their heads concealed. Their guns fire into the opposite fortress, the 'No Popery Battery', which recedes in perspective. In the foreground (right) three men superintend the firing of a cannon inscribed 'Prejudice': Eldon, wearing an old woman's cap; Wetherell, in back view, holding up a document inscribed 'Ex Officio' [cf. BM Satires No. 11717, &c] showing that he is (or was) Attorney-General; and a man in back view whose hips are swathed by a cloth inscribed 'Wounded by a Kick at Windsor'. The next cannon, 'Church Influence' (a ball from which has knocked off Peel's 'Oxford' cap), is fired by two bloated bishops, probably Canterbury and York; an old woman near them carries cakes inscribed 'Petetion' [sic]; other bishops, in line, fire blunderbusses. A turret rises above them; on its battlements are Cumberland, superintending 'The Grand Cumberland Bomb', and a rabid non-Anglican minister, evidently Irving (see BM Satires No. 15658). Below them is a barred vault, inscribed 'Church Property', containing mitres, documents, 'Wool Sacks', crosier, and blunderbuss. Adjoining this turret is the 'No Liberty Battery' with large mortars in its crenellations; these are (left to right) 'Deceit', surrounded by smoke; 'Cruelty', with (?) Francis I of Naples supported on crutches; 'Folly' superintended by Ferdinand VII over whose shoulder looks a friar (cf. BM Satires No. 13009); 'Arrogance' with (?) a Frenchman standing beside it. Both sovereigns wear crowns; with them are a man holding a dagger and a priest or monk. Behind them rises a tower, 'Inquisition Fort', which is on fire and collapsing; among the flames is a wheel (instrument of torture). On an adjacent tower, still intact, stands the Pope in robes and tiara, and with webbed wings, holding a flaming sword. He holds a bland mask in front of his evil features, and looks down at a three-headed monster at his feet, where a large cross lies horizontally across the tower. He is about to be struck by two balls from the "Common Sense Battery". A larger adjacent tower, behind Cumberland, with a pennant inscribed 'Ignorance', has a quasi-roof in the form of giant features with a fanged and gaping mouth. This is inscribed 'Eyes that see not Ears that hear not'. Standing on a rock (left) as a pendant to the Pope is a draped female figure, probably Religion, irradiated and clasping a cross. She points upwards to a group emerging from clouds and lit by rays from a sun inscribed 'Jehovah'. A dove with an olive-branch flies towards them. They are supporters of Toleration, looking down from the sky. In the front row are (left to right) Grattan, the Duke of Kent, Canning, Pitt, Fox, with an unidentified Georgian notable. In the back row are Charles I, Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth, and (?) Milton. Of ten others, one is perhaps Lord Howard of Effingham; Fénelon is indicated by the book, 'Télémaque', which he holds out. There are also Wolfe (perhaps posthumously credited with toleration in Canada) and (?) Henri IV and Cardinal Richelieu. A contrasted but smaller group behind the Pope (right) is surrounded by dark clouds and lightning. The central figure is a pope, probably Gregory XIII, between (?) Marie de' Medici and (?) Alva. The others are Oliver Cromwell next Napoleon, Mary I next Henry VIII, Mary Queen of Scots and (?) Philip II with two monks, one holding a dagger. In the centre of the design, and in the middle distance, is an open tent-pavilion in which stand closely grouped sovereigns, &c, all in military uniform. The most prominent is George IV, who points to a charter spread on a small draped table and inscribed 'Rights of Humanity'; above his head is a flag with the leopards of the Royal Standard. Two other flags indicate that he is flanked by Charles X and William I of the Netherlands; above this pavilion is a winged figure of Fame, blowing her trumpet and about to drop two wreaths. Before it is a storming-party advancing towards the centre foreground; the leader, O'Connell, holding a banner inscribed 'Association', has climbed "the Ruins of the Test Act". He is cheered on by his Irish followers, among whom are presumably Sheil and Lawless. In the centre foreground is a printing-press on which is displayed a sheet of 'The Times' with a cross-heading: 'Exposure'. This serves as barricade against two balls inscribed 'Petetion' [see BM Satires No. 15661, &c] from the cannon of "Prejudice". c. April 1829 Etching
Producer name: Print made by: Robert Seymour; Published by: Thomas McLean; Printed by: C Firth
School/style
Production date: 1829
Production place: Published in: London (England)
Materials
Technique
Dimensions: Height: 402 millimetres (approximately); Width: 407 millimetres (approximately)
$Inscriptions
Curator's comments: Olivatte is unknown. (Description and comment from M. Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', XI, 1954) A plea for Emancipation in virtue of toleration versus bigotry, the distinction between bigots and anti-bigots somewhat arbitrary: much was said of Elizabeth's toleration to Catholics, especially by Grey who instanced Lord Howard of Effingham (incorrectly supposed a Catholic). 'Parl. Deb.', N.S. xxi. 314 (4 Apr.). It is unique in the seeming approval of O'Connell, combined with 'No-Popery' symbolism. Wellington used 'The Times' to secure Emancipation, see 'Hist. of The Times', 1935, pp. 226, 255 f., and No. 15677, &c. Ten bishops (two Irish) voted for the Bill, cf. No. 15806. For the Holy Alliance see No. 14113; for the repeal of the Test Act as a step to Emancipation, No. 15530. The design resembles the old-fashioned allegorical composition and was perhaps issued with a printed explanation. Cf. Nos. 15657, 15729.
Bibliographic references
Location: Not on display
Subjects
Associated names: Associated with: George Hamilton Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen; Associated with: Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel, 3rd Duke of Alba; Associated with: Sir Henry William Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey; Associated with: Henry Peter, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux; Associated with: Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet; Associated with: George Canning; Associated with: Charles I, King of England; Associated with: Charles X, King of France and Navarre; Associated with: Oliver Cromwell; Associated with: Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent and Strathearn; Associated with: John Scott, 1st Earl of Eldon; Associated with: Elizabeth I, Queen of England; Associated with: Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland and King of Hanover; Associated with: Charles Farebrother; Associated with: Ferdinand VII, King of Spain; Associated with: Charles James Fox; Associated with: Francis I, King of Naples and Sicily; Associated with: George IV, King of the United Kingdom; Associated with: Henry Grattan; Associated with: Pope Gregory XIII; Associated with: Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey; Associated with: Edward Harcourt, Archbishop of York; Associated with: Henri IV, King of France and Navarre; Associated with: Henry VIII, King of England; Associated with: Henry Richard Fox Vassall, 3rd Baron Holland; Associated with: William Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Effingham; Associated with: William Howley, Archbishop of Canterbury; Associated with: Rev Edward Irving; Associated with: John Lawless; Associated with: John Singleton Copley, Baron Lyndhurst; Associated with: Marie de Médicis, Queen and Regent of France; Associated with: Mary I, Queen of England; Associated with: Mary, Queen of Scots; Associated with: John Milton; Associated with: Right Hon Sir George Murray; Associated with: Napoléon I, Emperor of the French (Napoleon); Associated with: Daniel O'Connell; Associated with: Sir Robert Peel; Associated with: Philip II, King of Spain; Associated with: William Pitt the Elder, 1st Earl of Chatham; Associated with: Pope Pius VIII; Associated with: Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal-Duc de Richelieu; Associated with: James Scarlett, 1st Baron Abinger; Associated with: William Shakespeare; Associated with: Richard Lalor Sheil; Associated with: Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington; Associated with: William I, King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxemburg; Associated with: General James Wolfe
Acquisition name
Acquisition date: 1868
Department: Prints and Drawings
Registration number: 1868,0808.13709

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