print;
satirical print
- Museum number
- 2001,0520.22
- Title
- Object: A Flight of Scotchmen!
- Description
-
Satire: Scotsmen 'raining' onto London, Ireland, West Indies, America and Germany, all wearing tartan kilts and bonnets, some with bagpipes; with signpost bottom right pointing towards London and lettered, "The best road for a Scot". 3 September 1796
Hand-coloured etching
- Production date
- 1796
- Dimensions
-
Height: 321 millimetres (trimmed)
-
Width: 453 millimetres (trimmed)
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Scots occur frequently as subjects of satire in 18th-century English prints; the unpopularity of Henry Dundas, then Secretary of State for War, led to a spate of anti-Scottish prints in the 1790s.
The lettering on the signpost shown here echoes Samuel Johnson's claim: "the noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees, is the high road that leads him to England!". Newton used Johnson's words in a print of 1794, "A Lesson for Spendthrifts - by Dr Johnson" (see 1948,0214.373).
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
2004-2005 July-Jan, London, Tate Britain, Art and National Identity
2009 Aug-Nov BM, P&D, Samuel Johnson in Prints
- Acquisition date
- 2001
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 2001,0520.22
