Pizarro comtemplating over the product of his new peruvian mine - / Js. Gillray, inv: & ft.

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James Gillray
1756-1815
Pizarro comtemplating over the product of his new peruvian mine - / Js. Gillray, inv: & ft.
etching, hand colored
image: 336 x 253 mm; plate mark: 363 x 261 mm; sheet: 373 x 272 mm
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1900.
Peel 3081
Published: 
[London] : Pubd. June 4th 1799. by Humphrey, 27 St James's Street, [1799]
Provenance: 
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Notes: 

"A satire on the success of 'Pizarro', Sheridan's melodramatic adaptation of Kotzebue's drama, first played 24 May 1799. This was largely due to the patriotic speech by Rolla".--Curator's comments, British Museum online catalog.

Summary: 

Sheridan stands on the stage dressed as Pizarro (played by Barrymore), gloating over guineas with which his helmet is filled. On the right is a flat consisting of a palm-tree with golden fruit, on the left columns wreathed with roses and decorated with theatrical emblems: tragic masks and spirals of cupids who blow Fame's trumpet, each holding a placard: 'Oracle Puff p ..'; 'Morning Chronicle Puff Puff Puff'; 'Morning Herald Puff' [&c, &c]; 'Courier' [&c, &c, cf. BMSat 9194]; 'Times' [&c, &c.]. In the background is mountain scenery with the mouth of the cave. Below the title: "Honor? Reputation? a mere Bubble! - will the praises of posterity charm my bones in the Grave? - 'psha! - my present \ "purpose is all! - O, Gold! Gold! for thee, I would sell my native Spain, as freely as I would plunder Peru." Cf. British Museum online catalog.

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