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Inscription

lower left in plate: Js. Gy. inv & ft.; lower right in plate: Pub. March 9th 1797 by H. Humphrey New Bond Street; lower center in plate: MIDAS, Transmuting all into GOLD [crossed out] PAPER. / History of Midas, ____ The great Midas having dedicated himself to Bacchus, obtained from that Deity, the power of changing all he Touched / Apollo fixed Asses Ears upon his head, for his Ignorance___ & although he tried to hide his disgrace with a Regal Cap, yet the very Sedges which grew / from the Mud of the Pactolus, whispered out his Infamy, whenever they were agitated by the Wind from the opposite Shore___ Vide Ovids Metamorpho... in image: Power / of securing / Public Credit; Key of Public / Property; Prosperous / State of Britain... ; by later hand, lower right verso in graphite: Kiuress House / 1 11 3 WSMM

Provenance

(Andrew Edmunds, London); purchased 2015 by NGA.

Associated Names

Edmunds, Andrew

Exhibition History

2018
Sense of Humor: Caricature, Satire, and the Comical in Prints and Drawings from Leonardo to the Present, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2018 - 2019.

Bibliography

1851
Wright, Thomas and Robert H. Evans. Historical and Descriptive Account of the Caricatures of James Gillray; Comprising a Political and Humorous History of the Latter Part of the Reign of George the Third. London, 1851. Reprint. NY: B. Blom, 1968: no. 168

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