- Museum number
- 1868,0808.3606
- Title
- Object: The European Race Heat IId Anno Dom MDCCXXXVIII
- Description
-
Satire on the jockeying for position of the European powers in the late 1730s, and in particular on the unwillingness of Walpole's government to go to war; this is the second of four "Heats" in the Race. A race-course on the sea-shore with a variety of animals and riders representing different countries: first comes France in the form of a fox ridden by Cardinal Fleury with a serpent for a belt indicating wisdom; he is pursued by Theodore of Corsica in full armour having remounted since the first Heat and now threatening Fleury with a sword and pistol; next comes Don Geraldino (Sir Thomas Fitzgerald, Spanish envoy to London) riding a bucking wolf, no longer led by France. The Turkish elephant has dropped its spectacles and overtaken the Russian bear; the pasha stands on the its back holding a flag with three tails; four Russian flags are stuck into the animal's hindquarters and it has a wooden leg replacing one lost in the war (allusions to the terrible losses sustained by Turkey in the course of victorious battles against Russia); the Russian bear's forepaw is carried in a sling. These wolf, elephant and bear are all branded with the fleur-de-lis. Austria follows in the form of a jockey riding an eagle, its clipped wings repaired with a fleur-de-lis and its heavy orb lying on the ground. A monkey is perched on the distance post as before, but no longer holds the fleur-de-lis. Next comes a Dutchman mounted on a boar its progress hampered by a fleur-de-lis chained to its leg. The race approaches the grandstand from which hangs the prize, now a laurel wreath; the flag is now the Union flag, lettered "Made in France of true English Wool"; a raven, bird of ill-omen perches on the cross-bar. The umpires are now in dispute, Europe having dropped her lance is aiming blows at Asia, Africa appears to intervene, but America still sits to one side. At the foot of each post are bales of English wool consigned to merchants in France, on one of which sits "Trade" in mourning looking at an open chest lettered, "French Lace & Brocade for Birthday Suites"; a pile of fuller's earth destined for "Mounsieur a Paris" lies in front of the stand. Hanging from the stand is a pair of scales in which the fleur-de-lis outweighs a bag of gold.In the foreground, on the left, a monkey leads a dragon caparisoned with the papal keys and with two pistols in holsters on its back; a Spaniard offers "A New Treaty of Comerce" to a Swede and a Frenchman; an unidentified man stands looking disconsolately at the ground; a rider, the Young Pretender, calls out, "Fox agt. ye Field"; the chariot of the King and Queen of the Two Sicilies, an Italian boot tucked behind, is drawn by two Spanish wolves but its wheel is about to break. On the right is an English cannon, lettered, "O Lord open thou my Lips & my Mouth shall shew forth thy praise"; a man in a carriage at the back of the gun holds reins securing the stopper in its mouth from which hangs a greyhound (badge of the King's messengers, i.e., ambassadors attempting to keep peace); two lions ("... in ye Tower of London") attempt to pull the gun carriage but one is held back by an English herald. In the foreground, a butcher holds a bulldog of "True English Breed", eager to release it; an old man stands beside him, his crutch resting in the eye of the mask of Envy, and holding "... Or the Craftsman Sep 30 1738". In the background, to the left, are ships of the British merchant fleet with brooms at their mastheads to show that they lack employment and are for sale; above, the devil flies a kite from which hangs a lantern apparently illuminating the crown that had been the prize in the first Heat which now floats in the air; two doves fly overhead, one, marked "Fleury" being caught in a spider's-web. In the centre is the Imperial eagle carrying two baskets, in one of which is a sword and in the other a baby (the Young Pretender) carrying a banner lettered, "Build a Hospital for [Foundlings]"; Neptune rises from the sea below holding his trident and a glass through which he looks at the British fleet. The Spanish fleet lies to the right, beneath a partially eclipsed sun; a rainbow joins the two fleets (barely visible in this worn impression). On the right is a hillside lettered "Bay of Campechey" with stumps of trees, in front of which two men are building a stack of logwood; behind a Spanish soldier drives three English sailors into captivity while their captain, hidden behind a bush, takes aim with a gun.The dome of St Paul's rises emerge from clouds at top right. 1738
Etching and engraving
- Production date
- 1738
- Dimensions
-
Height: 219 millimetres (image)
-
Height: 271 millimetres (trimmed?)
-
Width: 383 millimetres (image)
-
Width: 296 millimetres (trimmed?)
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- The description draws on a pamphlet entitled "An Explanation of the First, Second and Third Heats of the European Race", 1740 (British Library, 101.g.27). For the series of four "Heats" dating 1737-40, see BM Satires 2333.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1868,0808.3606
