File:Midas, transmuting all, into paper (BM 1851,0901.852).jpg
![File:Midas, transmuting all, into paper (BM 1851,0901.852).jpg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/07/Midas%2C_transmuting_all%2C_into_paper_%28BM_1851%2C0901.852%29.jpg/454px-Midas%2C_transmuting_all%2C_into_paper_%28BM_1851%2C0901.852%29.jpg?20200513132540)
Original file (1,894 × 2,500 pixels, file size: 1.25 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)
Captions
Captions
Summary
[edit]Midas, transmuting all, into paper
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Artist |
Print made by: James Gillray
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Title |
Midas, transmuting all, into paper |
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Description |
English: Pitt, a colossal figure (cf. BMSat 8980), bestrides the Rotunda of the 'Bank of England'. His arms and legs are very thin, but his body is formed of a (transparent) sack distended with gold coins and inscribed '£'. His elbows are akimbo, his hands grasp the sides of the sack; from the little finger of his left hand hangs a key, 'Key of Public Property'. Round the mouth of the sack is a heavy chain clasped by a padlock inscribed 'Power of securing Public Credit'. From the sack emerges the pipe-like neck down which coins are passing. Pitt looks arrogantly to the right, a blast issues from his closed lips of many paper notes inscribed 'one'. Near his mouth are a few gold coins which he is presumably inhaling. He wears a crown formed of 'one' pound notes; through it project his ass's ears. The near side of the Rotunda is removed, showing a descending shower of paper and an ascending cluster of coins which are being drawn upwards to join those in the sack. Little figures in and around the rotunda, under Pitt's legs, hold up their hands in dismay at the shower of £1 notes. Among them is a John Bull wearing a smock. Two men hold papers inscribed 'Dividend'; a Jew walks off (left) with 'Scrip'.
Hand-coloured etching |
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Depicted people | Associated with: Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Date |
1797 date QS:P571,+1797-00-00T00:00:00Z/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 |
1851,0901.852 |
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Notes |
(Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VII, 1942) A double-edged satire on Pitt for the stoppage of gold payments, see BMSat 8990, &c, and on the Opposition as factious and Jacobinical (cf. BMSat 8691). Pitt said, 28 Feb.: 'The sudden drain . . . was unconnected with any circumstance which could infer either the deficiency of the Bank, or the unprosperous situation of the country. The rate of foreign exchanges never were more flourishing. . . .' 'Parl. Hist.' xxxii. 1543 f. Grego, 'Gillray', p. 220. Wright and Evans, No. 168. Reprinted, 'G.W.G.', 1830.. Extract from Barrie Cook's catalogue entry in S. O'Connell (ed.), "Britain meets the World: 1714-1830" (Palace Museum, Beijing, 2007): The importance of the role of gold becomes clearest when it came under threat. During the long wars against revolutionary and Napoleonic France, a combination of government borrowing and panicky hoarding by the public brought the national gold reserves so low that in 1797 the Bank Restriction Act was passed by Parliament according to which the Bank of England stopped paying out coin for its notes and made the first large issue of £1 notes. This caused immense concern to a populace whose confidence in the monetary system depended on being able to exchange notes for gold and who deeply mistrusted these that could not be exchanged. ... Gillray makes clear the alarm and mistrust the government aroused by this measure. Here the Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger, is shown as a reverse Midas, the figure from ancient Greek myth who turned all he touched to gold. In contrast to Midas, Pitt - by the process of digestion - is turning gold into paper and expelling it into the nation. |
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Source/Photographer | https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1851-0901-852 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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. ![]() |
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Date/Time | Thumbnail | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
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current | 13:25, 13 May 2020 | ![]() | 1,894 × 2,500 (1.25 MB) | Copyfraud (talk | contribs) | British Museum public domain uploads (Copyfraud/BM) Satirical prints in the British Museum 1797 #6,912/12,043 |
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Width | 4,335 px |
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Height | 5,721 px |
Bits per component |
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Compression scheme | Uncompressed |
Pixel composition | RGB |
Number of components | 3 |
Horizontal resolution | 300 dpi |
Vertical resolution | 300 dpi |
Image width | 4,335 px |
Image height | 5,721 px |
Color space | Uncalibrated |
Date and time of digitizing | 09:00, 21 March 2014 |
File change date and time | 09:08, 21 March 2014 |
Date metadata was last modified | 09:08, 21 March 2014 |
Unique ID of original document | xmp.did:0280117407206811AB0882F3F9AA5B07 |