print; satirical print

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Object Type: print; satirical print
Museum number: 1868,0808.3657
Title: Object: The Negociator's
Description: Satire on the political situation in Europe at the outbreak of the War of Austrian Succession, in particular on Robert Walpole's unwillingness to participate. The rulers are described inverses below which are numbered to correspond with their words in speech ballons: 1. Frederick the Great of Prussia dressed as a Hussar and standing on "Silesia" (which he had already occupied); 2. George II sits at the lower end of a see-saw on which Augustus III, King of Poland rises; 3. Louis XV of France holds out a scroll lettered "Pragmatic Sanction" eager for war; 4. the Queen of Spain encourages him, resolved to gain Italian lands, beside her stand her sons, one of whom, Don Carlos, is saying "Corsica" while "Abdicated Theodore" lies on the ground, a beggar holdingout his hat for alms, and the King of Spain, in 17th-century dress stands behind; 5. Cardinal Fleury stands in a walking frame labelled "Doteingness" counsels peace; 6. a portly Walpole stands with one foot over a grave in which lies a coffin labelled "Memento Mori" and a skull and bones; he holds a paper lettered, "Nem. Con." and a string by which he restrains to ships labelled, "Bob'd". 7. a City of London alderman, labelled "Sturdy Beggar" in reference to Walpole's insult in response to the City's opposition to his Excise Bill (1733), seeks "in Petto" (privately) "a Bill in the Parliament for Putting down of fat Men"; 8. a Dutchman stands aside determined only to take a defensive role; the Grand Duke of Tuscany addresses Frederick the Great, while Maria Theresa, already Queen of Bohemia, stands behind lamenting; further to the left, stand Anna Leopoldovna the Regent of Russia with her young son, Czar Ivan VI ("little John"); Sweden and Austria stand behind. Enclosed in a delicate rococo frame with a ribbon at the top adveritising "A brave gallante show", title in a cartouche below and sixteen lines of verse beneath. March 1741 Etching
Producer name
School/style
Production date: 1741
Production place: Published in: London (England)
Materials
Technique
Dimensions: Height: 200 millimetres; Width: 322 millimetres
$Inscriptions
Curator's comments: Advertised at 6d in the Daily Post, 20 March 1741, as due for publication the following day at one o'clock, making clear that the "Fat Man" represents Walpole and noting that "several of the Figures never open their Lips upon the Occasion it argues they are introduced only by way of Decoration." The plate was altered and re-issued as "The Queen of Hungary Stript", BM satires 2512.
Bibliographic references
Location: Not on display
Subjects: satire; battleship; grave/burial mound; sport/pastime (see-saw)
Associated names: Representation of: Frederick II, King of Prussia; Representation of: George II, King of Great Britain; Representation of: Louis XV, King of France and Navarre; Representation of: Elizabeth Farnese, Queen of Spain; Representation of: Philip V, King of Spain; Representation of: Charles III, King of Spain; Representation of: Philip, Duke of Parma and Piacenza; Representation of: Cardinal André Hercule de Fleury; Representation of: Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford; Representation of: Theodore Neuhoff, King of Corsica; Representation of: Francis I, Holy Roman emperor; Representation of: Maria Theresa, Holy Roman Empress and Queen of Hungary and Bohemia; Representation of: Grand Duchess Anna Leopoldovna of Russia; Representation of: Ivan VI, Tsar of Russia; Representation of: Augustus III, King of Poland (Frederick Augustus II, Elector of Saxony)
Associated places: Associated with: Sweden; Associated with: Netherlands; Associated with: Silesia
Associated events: Associated Event: War of Austrian Succession 1740-1748
Acquisition name
Acquisition date: 1868
Department: Prints and Drawings
Registration number: 1868,0808.3657

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