print; satirical print BM-Y-1.79

Period:Unknown Production date:1688
Materials:paper
Technique:etching
Subjects:satire catholicism christian cleric virtues and vices feast/banquet furniture/woodwork dog eroticism/sex commerce/finance money/currency cat
Dimensions:Height: 310 millimetres Width: 424 millimetres

Description:
Satire on Father Petre who presides at a banquet with Catholic clergy attended by female representations of the seven deadly sins. On the left, Pride, with peacock crown, holding a whip and with her foot on a yoke, leans on the shoulder of Father Petre who returns her gaze as he removes a mask from his face; his right elbow rests on bags of money and his right foot on a bible. To Petre’s left stands the snake-haired figure of Envy holding a flaming torch in her left hand and with her right holding a heart to her mouth. Next, a fat Dominican friar rests his hand on the shoulder of the large figure of Gluttony who offers him a dish containing a suckling pig; in front of her is the centrepiece of the table, a magnificent peacock pie, decorated with the monogram “IHS” and crossed keys of St Peter, surrounded by joints of meat and rolls of bread. A Capuchin squeezes a lemon on to a capon, while behind him the figure of Anger, accompanied by a snarling dog, raises a cudgel as she closes the door against a Protestant pastor who gestures in astonishment. A monk, a crutch at his side, turns to admire the naked figure of Lust, sitting astride a bed, who looks back at him; behind her two devils use bellows to fan a burning globe or orb. The figure of Sloth sleeps on the bed, supported by pillows. In the foreground, the elderly bespctacled figure of Avarice, bags of money in her lap, leans on a chest guarded by a dog; she reads an account, at the same time fingering coins that spill out of bags at her feet; the bags are lettered “Purgatorium” and “Missae” indicating that they were the product of the sale of indulgences and masses; a list of further sources of income rests on a papal tiara. In the foreground, with his back to the viewer, is a Franciscan with a goblet in one hand, a pitcher in the other and empty wine bottles on the floor beside him; he sits on an elaborate commode bearing a Bacchic relief. In the background, through a window, is seen a bishop in procession; on the wall behind the table hangs a tapestry with four scenes, a monkey and a cat (?) in clerical dress adminster the last sacrament to a dying man while a priest carries off a bag of money; St Francis of Assisi preaches to the fishes; a wolf in a confessional listens to a woman, while a monk caresses a bare-breasted nun; a fox in a pulpit, a goose hanging down his back, preaches to a congregation largely composed of women; on the right hand side, above an elaborate fireplace, hangs a picture of Jesuits on a sea shore amassing treasures of the East; on either side is a Chinese vase with flowers. 1688 Etching
IMG


Comments:For a complete breakdown of all of BM’s impressions of this design, see below.Text from Antony Griffiths, ‘The Print in Stuart Britain’, British Museum, 1998, cat.208This is the finest aesthetically and by far the most problematic ‘British’ satire of the period. It is known in three versions, printed from three different plates. Two are almost identical to each other (BMSat 1118,1119), while the third is in reverse and found on a Dutch broadsheet (BMSat 1117). All three versions are similar in quality, and it is difficult to say that any one is a copy or piracy of another. Rather they all appear to be versions emanating from the same workshop, and stylistically one has no hesitation in ascribing the design to Romeyn de Hooghe. He probably etched the best of them himself (BMSat 1118), while the others were made by his assistants.All three versions carry the signature ‘William Loggan f. & Oxoniae’ and two add the date ‘Anno 1681’. No William Loggan is known to history. David Loggan did indeed have sons at Oxford, but none was called William. Furthermore the dating of 1681 is impossible. The text under the Dutch broadsheet version explains the composition. The central figure, carousing at table with other Catholic priests, is Father Petre, the Queen’s Jesuit confessor, and the figures around him are all allegories of some vice. On the back wall are scenes of Catholic turpitude, including a monk caressing a nun. In 1681 Father Petre was only a minor functionary and was imprisoned until February 1683. He only became significant after James’s accession in 1685, and the obvious date for this print is early 1688, after the announcement of Queen’s pregnancy removed the hope of a Protestant succession. If so it would be a product of William of Orange’s propaganda machine in the Netherlands. The false name and Oxford address implied an English origin in order to disguise its true source, while a false date was used to hide the recent origin of the print. The number of versions prove that it was being mass-produced for the widest distribution on the Continent and Britain. This is by no means the only case of de Hooghe’s using a false name and place of publication.All impressions and states kept in the BM hereunder :BM Satire 1118Y,1.79This is an impression of the plate probably etched by Romeyn de Hooghe.BM Satire 1119See 1868,0808.3370This is an impression of a second plate, probably etched in De Hooghe’s workshop.BM Satire 1117See 1868,0808.3368, 1868,0808.3369 and 1864,0813.273.These are impressions of a third plate with Romeyn’s original design in reverse.For later reprints of this last plate with alterations that were included in the 1706 publication “Roma Perturbata”, see 1871,1209.4883 and 1873,0510.2716.