Anecdote Maçonnique = A Masonic anecdote / dessiné par un Frere Maçon, témoin de la scêne ; design'd by a Brother Mason, a witness of the scene.

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James Gillray
1756-1815
Anecdote Maçonnique = A Masonic anecdote / dessiné par un Frere Maçon, témoin de la scêne ; design'd by a Brother Mason, a witness of the scene.
etching with stipple, hand colored
image: 362 x 451 mm; sheet: 512 x 451 mm
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1900.
Peel 2540
Published: 
London : Publish'd November 21st 1786. for the Propietor, by H. Humphrey, New Bond Street, ca. 1797]
Provenance: 
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Notes: 

Printmaker from BM Satires.
Title from item.
Caption in French and English under each title, respectively.
Thirty lines of verse in French below image on left, under title, Abregè de l'histoire du Comte Arabe: Nè Dieu sait où, maintenu Dieu sait comme ...
Thirty lines of verse in English below image on right, under title, Abstract of the Arabian Count's memoirs: Born God knows where, supported God knows how ...
Cagliostro came to England after his release from the Bastille in 1786; he was the founder of a new (Egyptian) order of Free Masons.
Library's copy closely trimmed within plate mark.

Summary: 

"A masonic feast: in the centre of the room on a platform is an empty armchair decorated with a masonic symbol. Below it and on the right is a table with punch-bowl, glasses, candles, &c, behind which are the English members of the Lodge, some seated, others standing. On the left sit the French members, the most prominent being Cagliostro; all wear masonic aprons. ... A mason at the extreme right brings in a punch-bowl. Candle-sconces and masonic emblems decorate the wall."--British Museum online catalogue.

Catalog link: 
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Artist page: 
Gillray, James
Century: 
18th century
Classification: 
Print
Department: 
Drawings and Prints