print;
satirical print
- Museum number
- 1868,0808.3745
- Title
- Object: The Court Fright
- Description
-
Satire on British lack of preparedness for the French invasion planned in early 1744. George II is seated in an elegant room being bled by two surgeons while an ailing Britannia crouches at his side saying, "Alas I'm Weak". He appears to have thrown up in anger an "Express from [Sir John] No[rri]s" (commander of the Channel Fleet which had failed to engage with the French). The bespectacled Duke of Newcastle responds, "Forgive I'm ignorant of ye Marine", while John Carteret pulls back protesting, "And I of ye French Scheme". On the table beside the king is a pile of loyal addresses. An open doorway on the left shows the French fleet in flames, and another, on the right, shows a pedlar with a tray loaded with catholic relics on board a French ship. In the foreground are symbolic representations of the protagonists: a fox representing Cardinal Tencin attempts to mount a British lion who kicks out forcefully; English and French dogs fight over a bone labelled "The Bone of Trade gone"; a paper lettered, "Genoa on the Treaty of Worms" (a reference to the loss of Genoese territory under the treaty) lies on the ground; the lion of the United Provinces rides a Dutch hog lettered "6000 for fear of an invas[io]n" (a reference to the British claim of the assistance of 6,000 Dutch troops); the Hanoverian horse, a map of Britain draped across its back with a note indicating ships off "Lizard P[oint]", gallops over a man marked "Bankrupt". On the wall behind is a picture entitled "Promotion" showing a semi-naked woman, presumably the Countess of Yarmouth, waist-high in a pool with a dog swimming towards her. 1744
Etching
- Production date
- 1744
- Dimensions
-
Height: 165 millimetres (image)
-
Height: 200 millimetres (trimmed?)
-
Width: 309 millimetres (image)
-
Width: 325 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- French ships were assembled for invasion at Dunkirk during the winter of 1743/44, but two severe storms in March destroyed transport ships and blew out of the Channel the squadron that had been intended to accompany them; Norris, therefore, did not engage the French fleet.
Genoa effectively lost territory under the Treaty of Worms.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
2014 May-Oct, Hannover, W Busch Mus, 'Hanoverians'
- Associated events
- Associated Event: War of Austrian Succession 1740-1748
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1868,0808.3745
