Investors in the Dutch share boom of 1720 are incited by Jupiter, judged by Apollo, punished by Hercules, and deported to Hades. Etching, 1720.

Date:
[1720?]
Reference:
812445i
Part of:
Groote tafereel der dwaasheid.
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About this work

Description

Above, Jupiter sends down thunderbolts on the investors, who have animal heads, some with fish or carrots. In the centre, Apollo reclining on a cloud, points to the virtues and gives his verdict to Hercules, centre, armed with a club; in the foreground, two men knocked down by Hercules. On the left, Mercury with the virtues: foreground, Charity with shield of Leiden and Hope with shield of Haarlem, background Justice, unidentified (should be either Temperance or Faith), Prudence and Fortitude with shield of Amsterdam. On the right Bombario, wearing a harlequin costume, sits warming his backside on the entrance to hell: he holds a flag inscribed "Och, och leeven we noch" (Oh, oh, we are still alive)

Publication/Creation

[Amsterdam] : [publisher not identified], [1720?]

Physical description

1 print : etching, with engraving ; platemark 28 x 35.5 cm

Lettering

Vonnis van Apol over de bubbels. Translation of lettering: "Verdict of Apollo on the bubble". Below the image, engraved Dutch verses printed in four columns A trompe l'oeil frame surrounds the image

Edition

State without brackets supporting the left and right corners of the frame.

References note

Frederik Muller, De nederlandsche geschiedenis in platen. Beredeneerde beschrijving van nederlandsche historieplaten, zinneprenten en historische kaarten, Amsterdam 1863, part 2, no. 3573 (41)
Not in: British Museum, Catalogue of political and personal satires, vol. 2, London 1978
Arthur H. Cole, The great mirror of folly (Het groote tafereel der dwaasheid). An economic-bibliographical study, Boston 1949, no. 41

Reference

Wellcome Collection 812445i

Notes

'Het groote tafereel der dwaasheid', Amsterdam, 1720, is a collection of literary and pictorial satires relating to the Dutch speculation bubble of 1720, which occurred simultaneously with the South Sea bubble and the Mississippi bubble involving John Law. This print is one of the many in that collection: see A.H. Cole, op. cit.

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