print; satirical print

Please enable JavaScript in your web browser to get the best experience.

Object Type: print; satirical print
Museum number: Cc,2.9
Title: Object: The South Sea Scheme
Description: Satire on the financial scandal of the South Sea Bubble; a composite scene in the City of London identified by the Guildhall, St Paul's Cathedral and the Monument (its inscription changed to record the destruction of the city by the South Sea); a crowd is gathered around a merry-go-round (on which ride a prostitute, a clergyman, a shoe-black, an old crone and a Scottish nobleman); to left, the Devil hacks the limbs of Fortune, while religious leaders (both Anglican and Jewish) play at pitch and hustle; to right, emblematic figures of Honour and Honesty are beaten by Self-Interest and Villainy, and Trade sleeps. c.1721; this impression between 1768 and 1779 Etching and engraving
Producer name: Print made by: William Hogarth; Published by: John Bowles
School/style
Production date: 1721
Production place: Published in: London (England)
Materials
Technique: etching; engraving
Dimensions: Height: 263 millimetres; Width: 328 millimetres
$Inscriptions
Curator's comments: This impression was published between 1768 and 1779 when John Bowles gave his address as 13 Cornhill. An old annotation in a copy of Stephens's catalogue (P&D Tt.6.31) records that the copper plate was in the possession of Robert Wilkinson of Fenchurch Street in 1817.
Bibliographic references: Paulson 1989 / Hogarth's Graphic Works: third edition (43.VII); Paulson 1965/70 / Hogarth's graphic works: first complete edition (10.VI); BM Satires / Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum (1722)
Location: Not on display
Subjects: satire; allegory/personification; commerce/finance; gambling/gaming; devil/demon; street-trader; religion/belief; courtesan/prostitute; child; scottish
Associated places: Topographic representation of: London
Associated events: Associated Event: South Sea Bubble 1720
Acquisition name
Acquisition date: 1827 (before)
Acquisition notes: See comment on S,2.1.
Department: Prints and Drawings
Registration number: Cc,2.9

Free entry

Opening hours