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Summary
An Imperial stride!
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| Title |
An Imperial stride! |
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| Description |
English: A colossal figure of Catherine II steps from 'Russia', a rocky mound on the extreme left, to 'Constantinople', her toe resting on the horn of a crescent which surmounts a spire on a group of buildings, with a dome and a minaret. Her head is turned in profile to the right; in her right hand is an orb, in her left she holds out a sceptre over Constantinople, at which she looks with a determined frown. Beneath her petticoats, and strung out between 'Russia' and 'Constantinople' are the heads and shoulders of seven sovereigns, gazing up at her. On the extreme left is a man wearing the cap of the Doge of Venice, saying, "To what a length Power may be carried". Next is the Pope wearing his triple crown, saying, "I shall never forget it". Next is the King of Spain, saying, "By Saint Jago, I'll strip her of her Fur!" Louis XVI says "Never saw any thing like it". George III says "What! What! What! What a prodigious expansion!" The Emperor says "Wonderful elevation". The Sultan says "The whole Turkish Army wouldn't satisfy her". Below the design is inscribed 'European Powers'. 12 April 1791
Hand-coloured etching |
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| Depicted people | Associated with: Catherine II, Empress of Russia | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date | 1791 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Medium | paper | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dimensions |
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| Collection |
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| Current location |
Prints and Drawings |
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| Accession number |
1868,0808.6035 |
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| Notes |
(Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VI, 1938) A satire on Catherine's morals and on the Russo-Turkish war. The print may derive from a paragraph in 'The Bon Ton Magazine', i. 40 (March 1791): 'The Empress of Russia is said to intend placing one foot upon Petersburgh, and the other upon Constantinople. What a delight must the Imperial stride afford to the curious inhabitants of the intermediate countries.' In the debate of 12 April Sheridan said Sir W. Young had 'pictured the Empress as a female Colossus, standing with one foot on the banks of the Black Sea, and the other on the coast of the Baltic'. 'Parl. Hist.' xxix. 205. For Catherine's ambitions in relation to Constantinople see Rose, 'Pitt and National Revival', pp. 481-2. On her ceremonial visit to the Crimea, in 1787, she entered Cherson through an arch inscribed 'The way to Constantinople'. 'Camb. Mod. Hist.' viii. 315. Cf. BMSat 7841, &c. Grego, 'Rowlandson', i. 290. (additional) See Vincent Carretta, 'Petticoats in power: Catherine the Great in British political cartoons', in '1650-1850 Ideas, Aesthetics and Inquiries in the early modern era', ed. Kevin L. Cope, New York 1994, pp.23-81. |
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| Source/Photographer | https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1868-0808-6035 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Permission (Reusing this file) |
© The Trustees of the British Museum, released as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Licensing
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File history
Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.
| Date/Time | Thumbnail | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| current | 04:14, 16 May 2020 | | 2,500 × 1,978 (1.11 MB) | Copyfraud | British Museum public domain uploads (Copyfraud/BM) Satirical prints in the British Museum 1791 #11,968/12,043 |
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