File:The European Race Heat 1st Anno Dom MDCCXXXVII (BM 1868,0808.3589).jpg
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Captions
Summary
[edit]The European Race Heat 1st Anno Dom MDCCXXXVII ( ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Title |
The European Race Heat 1st Anno Dom MDCCXXXVII |
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Description |
English: Satire on the jockeying for position of the European powers in the late 1730s, and in particular on the unwillingness of Walpole's government to go to war. A race-course on the sea-shore with a variety of animals and riders representing different countries: first comes a fox ridden by Cardinal Fleury (France) leading a wolf ridden by a Spaniard in 16th-century costume and a bear (Russia) ridden by a man with a scimitar and a flag bearing crescent moons (trophies won in recent wars with Turkey). Fleury has attempted to noose an elephant ridden by a Turk, but the animal has dropped the noose and stands immobile looking through a pair of spectacles (said to be English, i.e., his view is enhanced by warnings given by Sir Everard Fawkener, the British Ambassador to Constantinople) which allows him a clear view of the French fleur-de-lis grafted on to his trunk. Next comes a Dutchman, smoking a pipe, mounted on a boar which looks back towards the King and Queen of the Two Sicilies riding in a chariot. Beside the chariot horse is a distance post to which clings a monkey holding a flag and the fleur-de-lis. The chariot wheel is obstructed by an English herald who releases a lion ("Whelp'd in ye Tower of London") which an English soldier is trying awkwardly to mount, impeded by his lack of experience of warfare. The race approaches a grandstand from which hangs the prize, a crown, and in which are seated the umpires: Europe (seated beside a large flag holding a lance), Asia, Africa and America, the last three paying little attention to proceedings; at the foot of the stand a bulldog of "True English Breed" is tied up. Nearer the foreground, to left, are two riders said to be the Young Pretender (already seen as potentially a greater threat than his father) and the Marquis de la Quadra (Stephens considers that the latter is intended for Robert Walpole) who offers a paper lettered, "Gibraltar, Portmahon, Georgia" while the other man declares, "4 to 1 upon Fox" (i.e, France). Towards the right, a horse has stumbled against the coat-of-arms of France and thrown its rider, Theodore of Corsica, whose sword, crown and standard have fallen to the ground; a jockey rides up on an eagle (the Austrian Empire), proceeding off-course hampered by having clipped wings and by the weight of a heavy orb it carries (its unsuccessful armies). In the foreground, a Savoyard showman has placed his box on a stone lettered, "Here ends St. James's Parish" and opened the doors to reveal the image of "Mermot" (a woman said to have been sent by Fleury to seduce George II, possibly identifiable as Amalie von Wallmoden); the Savoyard carries a baby (the Young Pretender) in a box slung over his shoulder; beside him an English dog and a Spanish dog fight while a French dog steals their bone. In the background, on the left, is the English fleet above which a devil dangles a huge gold coin; in the centre, the dome and a tower of St Paul's emerge from clouds, birds of ill omen perched on their tops; Neptune rises from the sea below; on the right, is the Spanish fleet with two suns (the sons of the Old Pretender) shining above, the rock of Gibraltar from which a mouse emerges in allusion to Aesop's fable warning not to make much ado about nothing; at its foot is a tropical shore (Campeche, Mexico) on which are piles of logwood (a commercially important dye-stuff about which there was much Anglo-Spanish feuding). 1737
Etching and engraving |
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Depicted people | Representation of: Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford (?) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Date |
1737 date QS:P571,+1737-00-00T00:00:00Z/9 |
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Medium | paper | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Dimensions |
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Collection |
institution QS:P195,Q6373 |
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Current location |
Prints and Drawings |
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Accession number |
1868,0808.3589 |
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Notes |
The description draws on a pamphlet entitled "An Explanation of the First, Second and Third Heats of the European Race", 1740 (British Library, 101.g.27). The Daily Post, 29 July 1740, stated that "There having been so great a Demand for the first Heat that the Plate is worn out, it is now engrav'd afresh, at the same Size with the three following Heats."; for these "Heats" dating from 1737-40, see BM Satires 2415, 2431 and 2455 |
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Source/Photographer | https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1868-0808-3589 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Permission (Reusing this file) |
© The Trustees of the British Museum, released as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 |
Licensing
[edit]This image is in the public domain because it is a mere mechanical scan or photocopy of a public domain original, or – from the available evidence – is so similar to such a scan or photocopy that no copyright protection can be expected to arise. The original itself is in the public domain for the following reason:
This tag is designed for use where there may be a need to assert that any enhancements (eg brightness, contrast, colour-matching, sharpening) are in themselves insufficiently creative to generate a new copyright. It can be used where it is unknown whether any enhancements have been made, as well as when the enhancements are clear but insufficient. For known raw unenhanced scans you can use an appropriate {{PD-old}} tag instead. For usage, see Commons:When to use the PD-scan tag. Note: This tag applies to scans and photocopies only. For photographs of public domain originals taken from afar, {{PD-Art}} may be applicable. See Commons:When to use the PD-Art tag. |
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Date/Time | Thumbnail | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
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current | 04:25, 11 May 2020 | 1,600 × 1,110 (519 KB) | Copyfraud (talk | contribs) | British Museum public domain uploads (Copyfraud/BM) Satirical prints in the British Museum 1737 #4,719/12,043 |
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Metadata
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Horizontal resolution | 300 dpi |
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Vertical resolution | 300 dpi |
Image width | 4,729 px |
Image height | 3,280 px |
Color space | sRGB |
Software used | Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 (20060914.r.77) Windows |
Date and time of digitizing | 11:04, 12 December 2007 |
File change date and time | 11:10, 12 December 2007 |
Date metadata was last modified | 11:10, 12 December 2007 |