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File:The Knight of the woeful countenance going to extirpate the National Assembly (BM 1868,0808.5972).jpg

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The Knight of the woeful countenance going to extirpate the National Assembly   (Wikidata search (Cirrus search) Wikidata query (SPARQL)  Create new Wikidata item based on this file)
Artist

Print made by: Frederick George Byron

Published by: William Holland
Title
The Knight of the woeful countenance going to extirpate the National Assembly
Description
English: A companion print to BMSat 7679. Burke as Don Quixote, wearing armour and mounted on an ass, rides out of the door of Dodsley's shop. He wears a Jesuit's biretta (cf. BMSat 6026), much enlarged to resemble the hat of a (Prussian) Death's Head Hussar, and decorated with skull and crossbones. On its top is seated an owl. Round his neck is suspended a medallion profile portrait of Marie Antoinette. He carries a long spear and an oval shield, divided into four quarters, inscribed 'Shield of Aristocracy and Despotism'; each containing an emblem of French tyranny: dexter chief, the Bastille (see BMSat 7550, &c); dexter base, a chained prisoner inside the Bastille; sinister chief, two men burning at the stake; sinister base, a man on the wheel, with axe, scourge, &c. The ass has a human head and wears the triple crown of the Papacy; he is evidently intended for Pius VI. On the animal's neck is hung Burke's 'Reflections on the French Revolution'. Above the shop door is 'Dodsley Bookseller' in large letters. The adjacent street door is seen on the left. Beneath the design is etched the passage beginning: 'It is undoubtedly true, though it may seem paradoxical; but in general, those who are habitually employed in finding and displaying faults, are unqualified for the work of reformation: and ending: From hence arises the complexional disposition of some of your guides to pull every thing in pieces - Burke on the French Revolution - Page 250.' 15 November 1790
Etching with hand-colouring
Depicted people Representation of: Edmund Burke
Date 1790
date QS:P571,+1790-00-00T00:00:00Z/9
Medium paper
Dimensions
Height: 359 millimetres
Width: 248 millimetres
institution QS:P195,Q6373
Current location
Prints and Drawings
Accession number
1868,0808.5972
Notes

(Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VI, 1938)

For the immediate effect of Burke's book (published by Dodsley), cf. Horne Tooke's toast at the annual dinner of the Revolution Society on 4 Nov. 1790: 'If Mr. Burke be ever prosecuted for such a libel on the Constitution, may his impeachment last as long as that of Mr. Hastings!' 'London Chronicle', 6 Nov. (cf. BMSat 7685). The famous passage on Marie Antoinette ending 'the age of chivalry is gone ...' provoked this and other personifications of Burke as Don Quixote (anticipating Paine's 'Rights of Man', 1791, 1st ed., p. 22). For other satires on Burke's 'Reflections' see BMSat 7675, &c.
Source/Photographer https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1868-0808-5972
Permission
(Reusing this file)		 © The Trustees of the British Museum, released as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

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current18:05, 13 May 2020Thumbnail for version as of 18:05, 13 May 20201,717 × 2,500 (1.06 MB)Copyfraud (talk | contribs)British Museum public domain uploads (Copyfraud/BM) Satirical prints in the British Museum 1790 #7,070/12,043

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