A mock escutcheon for a united, British republican college of health practitioners; representing British debate over the French Revolution. Coloured etching, 1798.
- Date:
- publish'd as the Act directs April 6 1798
- Reference:
- 12185i
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Description
The shield is supported by (on the sinister side) Francis Russell, 5th Duke of Bedford, who was the leading supporter in the House of Lords of Charles James Fox and the radicals, and (on the dexter side) Tom Paine, author of Rights of man (1791). The Duke of Bedford holds his own guillotined head, while Paine wears the Bonnet-rouge; each holds the Tree of Liberty. Bedford exclaims: "Ah! Well a day my cropt head" while Paine says: "So much for Ducal patriotism". Beside the Duke are two books: "Age of Re[a]son" (a work by Paine, 1794-1796) and "Sporting Cal[endar]."; beside Paine, "Rights of Man" and "Rights of Surgeons"
Publication/Creation
[London] (King St.) : W. Brown, publish'd as the Act directs April 6 1798.
Physical description
1 print : etching, with watercolour
Lettering
The arms emblazoned of the new enlightened trading fraternity of obstetric, pharmaceutic, veterinarian, barberian, magnetic chirurgeons, duly instituted by the nation in the first year of the British Republic, one and indivisible ...
Lettering continues with a detailed description of the devices composing the arms, etc. The motto is: "Quæ nocent omnibus artes" (Latin: "Arts which harm all"), a parody of the motto of the College of Surgeons of England "Quæ prosunt omnibus artes" ("Arts which benefit all", Ovid, Metamorphoses I, 524)
References note
British Museum, Catalogue of political and personal satires, vol. VII, London 1942, no. 9193
Reference
Wellcome Collection 12185i
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Location Status Access Closed stores