A Great Stream from a Petty Fountain, Or, John Bull Swamped in the...
"Swamped in the Flood of New-Taxes" Gillray, James [1756-1815]. A Great Stream from a Petty Fountain, Or, John Bull Swamped in the Flood of New-Taxes: Cormorants Fishing in the Stream. London: Hannah Humphrey, May 9, 1806. 8-3/4" x 14" hand-colored etching (measured to plate marks) on wove paper, without watermark, attractively mounted and matted. Light even toning to margins and background. A good impression with vivid colors. $1,250. * A satire on the slew of new taxes added to the state budget, the largest an increased income tax. In this image a fountain on an embankment marked "New Taxes" gushes from the mouth of Lord Henry Petty, Chancellor of the Exchequer. The water expands and rushes into a sea with a horizon inscribed "Unfathomable Sea of Taxation." Various politicians with cormorant features, among them Lord Grenville and Charles James Fox, fish greedily along the shore, while John Bull sits in a sinking rowboat, dropping an oar inscribed "William Pitt." BM Satires 10564.
Price: $1,250.00
Book number 71376