print;
satirical print
- Museum number
- 2010,7081.1381
- Title
- Object: The Triple Plea
- Description
-
Satire: a clergyman, lawyer and doctor in a room debate which of them has superiority in causing more harm to mankind, the clergyman standing on the left, faces the others who sit at a table with their papers and books; pictures on the walls of the harpies feasting on a man, and a 'Wolf in Sheeps Clothing' . 15 May 1780
Hand-coloured mezzotint
- Production date
- 1780
- Dimensions
-
Height: 353 millimetres
-
Width: 253 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- For the same subject and title see BMSat.1774.
See also the reduced version: 2010,7081.2060
States
(i) lettered with the title, a song of four lines in four verses 'Law, Physick, and Divinity, ... They'll be Ass ridden by All Three.' and 'London, Published as the Act directs, 14 May 1780, // by Carington Bowles, no. 69 in St Pauls Church Yard. // 422 // From the Original Picture by John Collett, in the Possession of Carington Bowles.'
(ii) republished by Bowles & Carver; publication line altered to 'London: Published as the Act directs, 15 May 1796, // by Bowles & Carver, No. 69 in St. Paul's Church Yard.' [1935,0522.1.89]
Sale catalogue listings
Carington Bowles, 1784, p. 117 no. 431, among 'The following 34 new and elegant humorous Prints, are finely executed from the capital Paintings of that eminent Artist the late John Collet, Esq. in the Possession of Carington Bowles. Each print is 10 inches wide and 14 inches deep. When framed and glazed they make a handsome Appearance and Fashionable Furniture, and are always kept ready finished. Price 2s. plain, or finely coloured from the paintings, 3s. each.'; 1790, p. 107 no. 448, same price.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 2010
- Acquisition notes
- Acquired with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Friends of the British Museum, the Art Fund, Mrs Charles Wrightsman, the Michael Marks Charitable Trust, and numerous individual donors.
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 2010,7081.1381
