CARICATURE IN HOLLAND.--ROMAIN DE HOOGHE.--THE ENGLISH
REVOLUTION.--CARICATURES ON LOUIS XIV. AND JAMES II.--DR.
SACHEVERELL.--CARICATURE BROUGHT FROM HOLLAND TO ENGLAND.--ORIGIN
OF THE WORD "CARICATURE."--MISSISSIPPI AND THE SOUTH SEA; THE YEAR
OF BUBBLES.
Modern political caricature, born, as we have seen, in France, may be
considered to have had its cradle in Holland. The position of that
country, and its greater degree of freedom, made it, in the seventeenth
century, the general place of refuge to the political discontents of
other lands, and especially to the French who fled from the tyranny of
Louis XIV. It possessed at that time some of the most skilful artists
and best engravers in Europe, and it became the central spot from which
were launched a multitude of satirical prints against that monarch's
policy, and against himself and his favourites and ministers. This was
in a great measure the cause of the bitter hatred which Louis always
displayed towards that country. He feared the caricatures of the Dutch
more than their arms, and the pencil and graver of Romain de Hooghe
were among the most effective weapons employed by William of Nassau.
The marriage of William with Mary, daughter of the duke of York, in
1677, naturally gave the Dutch a greater interest than they could
have felt before in the domestic affairs of Great Britain, and a new
stimulus to their zeal against Louis of France, or, which was the
same thing, against arbitrary power and Popery, both of which had
been rendered odious under his name. The accession of James II. to
the throne of England, and his attempt to re-establish Popery, added
religious as well as political fuel to these feelings, for everybody
understood that James was acting under the protection of the king
of France. The very year of king James's accession, in 1685, the
caricature appeared which we have copied in our cut No. 186, and which,
although the inscription is in English, appears to have been the work
of a foreign artist. It was probably intended to represent Mary of
Modena, the queen of James II., and her rather famous confessor, father
Petre, the latter under the character of the wolf among the sheep. Its
aim is sufficiently evident to need no explanation. At the top, in the
original, are the Latin words, _Converte Angliam_, "convert England,"
and beneath, in English, "It is a foolish sheep that makes the wolf her
confessor."
[Illustration: _No. 186. A Dangerous Confessor._]
The period during which the Dutch school of caricature flourished,
extended through the reign of Louis XIV., and into the regency in
France, and two great events, the revolution of 1688 in England, and
the wild money speculations of the year 1720, exercised especially the
pencils of its caricaturists. The first of these events belongs almost
entirely to Romain de Hooghe. Very little is known of the personal
history of this remarkable artist, but he is believed to have been born
towards the middle of the seventeenth century, and to have died in
the earlier years of the eighteenth century. The older French writers
on art, who were prejudiced against Romain de Hooghe for his bitter
hostility to Louis XIV., inform us that in his youth he employed his
graver on obscene subjects, and led a life so openly licentious, that
he was banished from his native town of Amsterdam, and went to live
at Haerlem. He gained celebrity by the series of plates, executed in
1672, which represented the horrible atrocities committed in Holland by
the French troops, and which raised against Louis XIV. the indignation
of all Europe. It is said that the prince of Orange (William III.
of England), appreciating the value of his satire as a political
weapon, secured it in his own interests by liberally patronising the
caricaturist; and we owe to Romain de Hooghe a succession of large
prints in which the king of France, his _protégé_ James II., and the
adherents of the latter, are covered with ridicule. One, published
in 1688, and entitled "Les Monarches Tombants," commemorates the
flight of the royal family from England. Another, which appeared at
the same date, is entitled, in French, "Arlequin fur l'hypogryphe à
la croisade Loioliste," and in Dutch, "Armeé van de Heylige League
voor der Jesuiten Monarchy" (_i.e._ "the army of the holy league for
establishing the monarchy of the Jesuits"). Louis XIV. and James II.
were represented under the characters of Arlequin and Panurge, who are
seated on the animal here called a "hypogryphe," but which is really
a wild ass. The two kings have their heads joined together under one
Jesuit's cap. Other figures, forming part of this army of Jesuitism,
are distributed over the field, the most grotesque of which is that
given in our cut No. 187. Two personages introduced in some ridiculous
position or other, in most of these caricatures, are father Petre, the
Jesuit, and the infant prince of Wales, afterwards the old Pretender.
It was pretended that this infant was in fact the child of a miller,
secretly introduced into the queen's bed concealed in a warming-pan;
and that this ingenious plot was contrived by father Petre. Hence the
boy was popularly called Peterkin, or Perkin, _i.e._ little Peter,
which was the name given afterwards to the Pretender in songs and
satires at the time of his rebellion; and in the prints a windmill
was usually given to the child as a sign of its father's trade. In
the group represented in our cut, father Petre, with the child in his
arms, is seated on a rather singular steed, a lobster. The young prince
here carries the windmill on his head. On the lobster's back, behind
the Jesuit, are carried the papal crown, surmounted by a fleur-de-lis,
with a bundle of relics, indulgences, &c., and it has seized in one
claw the English church service book, and in the other the book of the
laws of England. In the Dutch description of this print, the child is
called "the new born Antichrist." Another of Romain de Hooghe's prints,
entitled "Panurge secondé par Arlequin Deodaat à la croisade d'Irlande,
1689," is a satire on king James's expedition to Ireland, which led to
the memorable battle of the Boyne. James and his friends are proceeding
to the place of embarkation, and, as represented in our cut No. 188,
father Petre marches in front, carrying the infant prince in his arms.
[Illustration: _No. 187. A Jesuit well Mounted._]
The drawing of Romain de Hooghe is not always correct, especially in
his larger subjects, which perhaps may be ascribed to his hasty and
careless manner of working; but he displays great skill in grouping
his figures, and great power in investing them with a large amount of
satirical humour. Most of the other caricatures of the time are poor
both in design and execution. Such is the case with a vulgar satirical
print which was published in France in the autumn of 1690, on the
arrival of a false rumour that king William had been killed in Ireland.
In the field of the picture the corpse of the king is followed by a
procession consisting of his queen and the principal supporters of
his cause. The lower corner on the left hand is occupied by a view of
the interior of the infernal regions, and king William introduced in
the place allotted to him among the flames. In different parts of the
picture there are several inscriptions, all breathing a spirit of very
insolent exultation. One of them is the--
_Billet d'Enterrement._
Vous estes priez d'assister au convoy, service, et enterrement
du tres haut, tres grand, et tres infame Prince infernal, grand
stadouter, des Armés diaboliques de la ligue d'Ausbourg, et
insigne usurpateur des Royaumes d'Angleterre, d'Eccosse, et
d'Irlande, décédé dans l'Irlande au mois d'Aoust 1690, qui se
fera le dit mois, dans sa paroisse infernale, ou assisteront Dame
Proserpine, Radamonte, et les Ligueurs.
Les Dames lui diront s'il leur plaist des injures.
[Illustration: _No. 188. Off to Ireland._]
The prints executed in England at this time were, if possible, worse
than those published in France. Almost the only contemporary caricature
on the downfall of the Stuarts that I know, is an ill-executed print,
published immediately after the accession of William III., under the
title, "England's Memorial of its wonderful deliverance from French
Tyranny and Popish Oppression." The middle of the picture is occupied
by "the royal orange tree," which flourishes in spite of all the
attempts to destroy it. At the upper corner, on the left side, is a
representation of the French king's "council," consisting of an equal
number of Jesuits and devils, seated alternately at a round table.
The circumstance that the titles and inscriptions of nearly all
these caricatures are in Dutch, seems to show that their influence
was intended to be exercised in Holland rather than elsewhere. In
two or three only of them these descriptions were accompanied with
translations in English or French; and after a time, copies of them
began to be made in England, accompanied with English descriptions. A
curious example of this is given in the fourth volume of the "Poems
on State Affairs," printed in 1707. In the preface to this volume the
editor takes occasion to inform the reader--"That having procur'd
from beyond sea a Collection of Satyrical Prints done in Holland and
elsewhere, by Rom. de Hoog, and other the best masters, relating to
the French King and his Adherents, since he unjustly begun this war,
I have persuaded the Bookseller to be at the expense of ingraving
several of them; to each of which I have given the Explanation in
English verse, they being in Dutch, French, or Latin in the originals."
Copies of seven of these caricatures are accordingly given at the end
of the volume, which are certainly inferior in every respect to those
of the best period of Romain de Hooghe. One of them commemorates the
eclipse of the sun on the 12th of May, 1706. The sun, as it might be
conjectured, is Louis XIV., eclipsed by queen Anne, whose face occupies
the place of the moon. In the foreground of the picture, just under the
eclipse, the queen is seated on her throne under a canopy, surrounded
by her counsellors and generals. With her left arm she holds down the
Gallic cock, while with the other hand she clips one of its wings
(see our cut No. 189). In the upper corner on the right, is inserted
a picture of the battle of Ramillies, and in the lower corner on the
left, a sea-fight under admiral Leake, both victories gained in that
year. Another of these copies of foreign prints is given in our cut
No. 190. We are told that "these figures represent a French trumpet and
drum, sent by Louis le Grand to enquire news of several citys lost by
the Mighty Monarch last campaign." The trumpeter holds in his hand a
list of lost towns, and another is pinned to the breast of the drummer;
the former list is headed by the names of "Gaunt, Brussels, Antwerp,
Bruges," the latter by "Barcelona."
[Illustration: _No. 189. Clipping the Cock's Wings._]
[Illustration: _No. 190. Trumpet and Drum._]
[Illustration: _No. 191. The Three False Brethren._]
The first remarkable outburst of caricatures in England was caused by
the proceedings against the notorious Dr. Sacheverell in 1710. It is
somewhat curious that Sacheverell's partisans speak of caricatures
as things brought recently from Holland, and new in England, and
ascribe the use of them as peculiar to the Whig party. The writer of
a pamphlet, entitled "The Picture of Malice, or a true Account of Dr.
Sacheverell's Enemies, and their behaviour with regard to him," informs
us that "the chief means by which all the lower order of that sort of
men call'd Whigs, shall ever be found to act for the ruin of a potent
adversary, are the following three--by the Print, the Canto or Doggrell
Poem, and by the Libell, grave, calm, and cool, as the author of the
'True Answer' describes it. These are not all employed at the same
time, any more than the ban and arierban of a kingdom is raised, unless
to make sure work, or in cases of great exigency and imminent danger."
"The Print," he goes on to say, "is originally a Dutch talisman
(bequeathed to the ancient Batavians by a certain Chinese necromancer
and painter), with a virtue far exceeding that of the Palladium, not
only of guarding their cities and provinces, but also of annoying their
enemies, and preserving a due balance amongst the neighbouring powers
around." This writer warms up so much in his indignation against this
new weapon of the Whigs, that he breaks out in blank verse to tell
us how even the mysterious power of the magician did not destroy its
victims--
_Swifter than heretofore the Print effac'd
The pomp of mightiest monarchs, and dethron'd
The dread idea of royal majesty;
Dwindling the prince below the pigmy size.
Witness the once Great Louis in youthful pride,
And Charles of happy days, who both confess'd
The magic power of mezzotinto[101] shade,
And form grotesque, in manifestoes loud
Denouncing death to boor and burgomaster.
Witness, ye sacred popes with triple crown,
Who likewise victims fell to hideous print,
Spurn'd by the populace who whilome lay
Prostrate, and ev'n adored before your thrones._
[101] The method of engraving called mezzotinto was very generally
adopted in England in the earlier part of the last century for
prints and caricatures. It was continued to rather a late period
by the publishing house of Carrington Bowles.
We are then told that "this, if not the first, has yet been the chief
machine which his enemies have employ'd against the doctor; they have
exposed him in the same piece with the pope and the devil, and who now
could imagine that any simple priest should be able to stand before a
power which had levelled popes and monarchs?" At least one copy of the
caricature here alluded to is preserved, although a great rarity, and
it is represented in our cut No. 191. Two of the party remained long
associated together in the popular outcry, and as the name of the third
fell into contempt and oblivion, the doctor's place in this association
was taken by a new cause of alarm, the Pretender, the child whom we
have just seen so joyously brandishing his windmill. It is evident,
however, that this caricature greatly exasperated Sacheverell and the
party which supported him.
It will have been noticed that the writer just quoted, in using the
term "print," ignores altogether that of caricature, which, however,
was about this time beginning to come into use, although it is not
found in the dictionaries, I believe, until the appearance of that of
Dr. Johnson, in 1755. _Caricature_ is, of course, an Italian word,
derived from the verb _caricare_, to charge or load; and therefore,
it means a picture which is charged, or exaggerated (the old French
dictionaries say, "_c'est la même chose que charge en peinture_").
The word appears not to have come into use in Italy until the latter
half of the seventeenth century, and the earliest instance I know of
its employment by an English writer is that quoted by Johnson from
the "Christian Morals" of Sir Thomas Brown, who died in 1682, but it
was one of his latest writings, and was not printed till long after
his death:--"Expose not thyself by four-footed manners unto monstrous
draughts (_i.e._ drawings) and _caricatura_ representations." This very
quaint writer, who had passed some time in Italy, evidently uses it as
an exotic word. We find it next employed by the writer of the Essay No.
537, of the "Spectator," who, speaking of the way in which different
people were led by feelings of jealousy and prejudice to detract from
the characters of others, goes on to say, "From all these hands we
have such draughts of mankind as are represented in those burlesque
pictures which the Italians call _caricaturas_, where the art consists
in preserving, amidst distorted proportions and aggravated features,
some distinguishing likeness of the person, but in such a manner as to
transform the most agreeable beauty into the most odious monster." The
word was not fully established in our language in its English form of
_caricature_ until late in the last century.
[Illustration: _No. 192. Atlas._]
The subject of agitation which produced a greater number of caricatures
than any previous event was the wild financial scheme introduced into
France by the Scottish adventurer, Law, and imitated in England in
the great South Sea Bubble. It would be impossible here, within our
necessary limits, to attempt to trace the history of these bubbles,
which all burst in the course of the year 1720; and, in fact, it is a
history of which few are ignorant. On this, as on former occasions, the
great mass of the caricatures, especially those against the Mississippi
scheme, were executed in Holland, but they are much inferior to the
works of Romain de Hooghe. In fact, so great was the demand for these
caricatures, that the publishers, in their eagerness for gain, not
only deluged the world with plates by artists of no talent, which were
without point or interest, but they took old plates of any subject
in which there was a multitude of figures, put new titles to them,
and published them as satires on the Mississippi scheme; for people
were ready to take anything which represented a crowd as a satire on
the eagerness with which Frenchmen rushed into the share-market.
One or two curious instances of this deception might be pointed out.
Thus, an old picture, evidently intended to represent the meeting
of a king and a nobleman, in the court of a palace, surrounded by
a crowd of courtiers, in the costume probably of the time of Henri
IV., was republished as a picture of people crowding to the grand
scene of stock-jobbing in Paris, the Rue Quinquenpoix; and the old
picture of the battle between Carnival and Lent came out again, a
little re-touched, under the Dutch title, "Stryd tuszen de smullende
Bubbel-Heeren en de aanstaande Armoede," _i.e._, "The battle between
the good-living bubble-lords and approaching poverty."
Besides being issued singly, a considerable number of these prints
were collected and published in a volume, which is still met with not
unfrequently, under the title "Het groote Tafereel der Dwaasheid,"
"The great picture of folly." One of this set of prints represents a
multitude of persons, of all ages and sexes, acting the part of Atlas
in supporting on their backs globes, which, though made only of paper,
had become, through the agitation of the stock exchange, heavier than
gold. Law himself (see our cut No. 192) stands foremost, and requires
the assistance of Hercules to support his enormous burthen. In the
French verses accompanying this print, the writer says--
_Ami Atlas, on voit (sans conter vous et moi)
Faire l'Atlas partout des divers personnages,
Riche, pauvre, homme, femme, et sot et quasi-sage,
Valet, et paisan, le gueux s'eleve en roi._
Another of these caricatures represents Law in the character of Don
Quixote, riding upon Sancho's donkey. He is hastening to his Dulcinia,
who waits for him in the _actie huis_ (action or share-house), towards
which people are dragging the animal on which he is seated. The
devil (see our cut No. 193), sits behind Law, and holds up the ass's
tail, while a shower of paper, in the form of shares in companies,
is scattered around, and scrambled for by the eager _actionnaires_.
In front, the animal is laden with the money into which this paper
has been turned,--the box bears the inscription, "_Bombarioos
Geldkist_, 1720," "Bombario's (Law's) gold chest;" and the flag bears
the inscription, "_Ik koom, ik koom, Dulcinia_," "I come, I come,
Dulcinia." The best, perhaps, of this lot of caricatures is a large
engraving by the well-known Picart, inserted among the Dutch collection
with explanations in Dutch and French, and which was re-engraved in
London, with English descriptions and applications. It is a general
satire on the madness of the memorable year 1720. Folly appears as
the charioteer of Fortune, whose car is drawn by the representatives
of the numerous companies which had sprung up at this time, most of
which appear to be more or less unsound. Many of these agents have the
tails of foxes, "to show their policy and cunning," as the explanation
informs us. The devil is seen in the clouds above, blowing bubbles of
soap, which mix with the paper which Fortune is distributing to the
crowd. The picture is crowded with figures, scattered in groups, who
are employed in a variety of occupations connected with the great folly
of the day, one of which, as an example, is given in our cut No. 194.
It is a transfer of stock, made through the medium of a Jew broker.
[Illustration: _No. 193. The Don Quixote of Finance._]
[Illustration: _No. 194. Transfer of Stock._]
It was in this bubble agitation that the English school of caricature
began, and a few specimens are preserved, though others which are
advertised in the newspapers of that day, seem to be entirely lost. In
fact, a very considerable portion of the caricature literature of a
period so comparatively recent as the first half of the last century,
appears to have perished; for the interest of these prints was in
general so entirely temporary that few people took any care to preserve
them, and few of them were very attractive as pictures. As yet, indeed,
these English prints are but poor imitations of the works of Picart
and other continental artists. A pair of English prints, entitled
"The Bubbler's Mirrour," represents, one a head joyful at the rise in
the value of stock, the other, a similar head sorrowful at its fall,
surrounded in each case with lists of companies and epigrams upon them.
They are engraved in mezzotinto, a style of art supposed to have been
invented in England--its invention was ascribed to Prince Rupert--and
at this time very popular. In the imprint of these last-mentioned
plates, we are informed that they were "Printed for Carington Bowles,
next y^e Chapter House, in St. Paul's Ch. Yard, London," a well-known
name in former years, and even now one quite familiar to collectors,
of this class of prints, especially. Of Carington Bowles we shall have
more to say in the next chapter. With him begins the long list of
celebrated English printsellers.