![AMERICAN REVOLUTION – A Picturesque View of the State of Britain for 1780. [Boston: John McDougall, 1780].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/NYR/2017_NYR_14998_0024_000(american_revolution_a_picturesque_view_of_the_state_of_britain_for_178094905).jpg?w=1)
PROPERTY OF THE ROSE BROOK COLLECTION
AMERICAN REVOLUTION – A Picturesque View of the State of Britain for 1780. [Boston: John McDougall, 1780].
Details
AMERICAN REVOLUTION – A Picturesque View of the State of Britain for 1780. [Boston: John McDougall, 1780].
An extremely rare satirical print depicting Great Britain as a cow, being “milked” of her natural resources by a Dutchman while America – personified by an Indian – saws off her horns. The bounty is shared gleefully by the Dutchman with his European colleagues, a Frenchman and a Spaniard. An obviously powerless Englishman wrings his hands in despair while the British lion lies asleep, oblivious to even a small dog’s indiscretion. In the background, a British ship has run aground. Based on a popular earlier satire entitled A Picturesque View of the State of the Nation for February 1778, this iteration has an important difference: it shows New York in the upper right where European variants depict Philadelphia. In his 1907 American Engravers upon Copper and Steel David McNeely Stauffer attributed the work to Paul Revere, however Clarence Brigham makes no mention of it in his catalogue raisonné of Revere’s engravings. Published as the frontispiece to Weatherwise’s Town and country Almanack for the Year of our Lord 1781 by McDougall. McNeely Stauffer 2692.
Engraving on laid paper, 174 x 187mm, framed (slightly worn impression, a carefully repaired split in the image and center and one in the text, minor surface soiling, laid down on laid paper). Provenance: Christie’s New York, 3 June 1989, sale 6842, lot 190.
An extremely rare satirical print depicting Great Britain as a cow, being “milked” of her natural resources by a Dutchman while America – personified by an Indian – saws off her horns. The bounty is shared gleefully by the Dutchman with his European colleagues, a Frenchman and a Spaniard. An obviously powerless Englishman wrings his hands in despair while the British lion lies asleep, oblivious to even a small dog’s indiscretion. In the background, a British ship has run aground. Based on a popular earlier satire entitled A Picturesque View of the State of the Nation for February 1778, this iteration has an important difference: it shows New York in the upper right where European variants depict Philadelphia. In his 1907 American Engravers upon Copper and Steel David McNeely Stauffer attributed the work to Paul Revere, however Clarence Brigham makes no mention of it in his catalogue raisonné of Revere’s engravings. Published as the frontispiece to Weatherwise’s Town and country Almanack for the Year of our Lord 1781 by McDougall. McNeely Stauffer 2692.
Engraving on laid paper, 174 x 187mm, framed (slightly worn impression, a carefully repaired split in the image and center and one in the text, minor surface soiling, laid down on laid paper). Provenance: Christie’s New York, 3 June 1989, sale 6842, lot 190.
Sale room notice
Please note that this lot is being offered without reserve.