print;
broadside;
satirical print
- Museum number
- 1868,0808.9686
- Title
-
Object: De Laggende Law, De Treurende Actionist Met De Smekende Mercurius
-
Series: Het Groote Tafereel der Dwaasheid
- Description
-
Dutch satire on the financial crisis of 1720 with a platform showing in the centre a angry gentleman holding his hat in his right hand and a cane in his left, he is the 'Treurende Actionist' (grieving stockholder); behind him a naked boy stands blowing bubbles; above him a scroll supsended from two balloons labelled West and South reads, '...Law heeft het gelt daars niet voor ons...' (Law has the money there is nothing left for us). On the left a laughing man, representing John Law, pours money from a cornucopia into a chest, around which are money bags and boxes and a basket of jewellery. In the centre are a number of papers labelled with the names of places involved in the "Wind Trade" in the middle of which lies a fishing-rod. A devil crawls across the rod, clasping a large vase; a woman in classical dress runs towards the right; in the lower right, a harpy looks back at the scene; behind this group, a man dressed as a clown, lowers his breeches and breaks wind towards a globe presented with a cross as an orb of sovereignty. Behind the platform, on the left the South Sea stretches calmly towards a landscape, on the right, a fisherman shows a gentleman the road to Vianen; above them flies Mercury pleading to the gods, in the clouds above, 'Og laat de Koopmanschap weer gaan, Want Wind alleen kan niet bestaan' (Oh, let the merchant's trade thrive, because wind alone can not survive). At the top, Icarus has flown too near the sun and falls from the sky. Engraved title, inscriptions, and verses in three columns. 1720
Etching
- Production date
- 1720
- Dimensions
-
Height: 342 millimetres
-
Width: 297 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
-
Both Muller and BM Satires describe a reversed image, which most probably is the original broadside.
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One of a collection of prints bound together in two volumes c.1721 known as 'Het Groote Tafereel der Dwaasheid'; for more information, see 1868,0808.9602.
- Location
- Not on display
- Associated events
- Associated Event: Financial Bubble 1720
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1868,0808.9686
