Boston, Massachusetts: John Malcolm, a customs official, is lowered by ropes from his house on to a cart and tarred and feathered by a crowd protesting against taxation. Engraving by F. Godefroy, 1784.

  • Godefroy, François, 1743?-1819
Date:
[1794]
Reference:
43311i
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Previous title, replaced December 2023 : John Malcolm is seized by an unruly crowd in Boston, lifted into a cart and from there pulled up to a window with ropes. Engraving by F. Godefroy, 1784.

Description

The Boston Tea Party (16 December 1773) was an incident in which 342 chests of tea belonging to the British East India Company were thrown from ships into Boston Harbour by American patriots disguised as Mohawk Indians. The Americans were protesting against both a tax on tea (taxation without representation) and the perceived monopoly of the East India Company. The following year there was a separate protest in Boston: a customs official named John Malcolm, who was responsible for imposing the tax, was removed from his house, tarred and feathered, forced to consume tea and drink a toast to King George III, and was beaten before being set free. The present print shows Malcolm being lowered from an upper floor of his house on to a cart. A woman on the left holds a cauldron of tar, and a woman next to her has a basket of feathers

Publication/Creation

Paris (Rue des Francs-bourgeois, Porte St. Michel) : chez Mr. Godefroy ; Paris (rue St Hiacinte, no. 19) : chez Mr. Ponce, [1794]

Physical description

1 print : engraving, with etching ; image 12.3 x 17 cm

Contributors

Lettering

John Malcom. Le 25 janvier 1774 la populace irritée penetra sans armes dans sa maison. Il blessa plusiers personnes a coups d'épée: mais les Bostoniens ... Dessiné et gravé par F. Godefroy de l'Academie Imp.le et R.le de Vienne & c.

References note

Michèle Hébert, Edmond Pognon, Yves Bruand, and Yves Sjöberg, Inventaire du fonds français, graveurs du XVIIIe siècle, Bibliothèque nationale, Département des estampes, tome X, Paris 1968, p. 380, François Godefroy no. 62 ('62-68). 7 pl. pour Collection d'estampes représentant les événements de la guerre pour la liberté de l'Amérique septentrionale. A Paris, chez F. Godefroy... et chez N. Ponce; S. d. Le recueil complet … Chaque feuille se compose d'une illustration et d'un texte explicatif gravé sur la même planche. L'adresse est indiquée sur la plupart des gravures: "A Paris, chez Mr Godefroy, rue des Francs-Bourgeois, Porte St Michel et chez Mr Ponce, rue St Hiacinthe, no. 19." En haut, à dr., les numéros d'ordre. Les dimensions des gravures sont d'env. : H. 0m122 x L. 0m170. Annonces: Gazette de France, 23 septembre 1783, et 3 septembre 1784. Affiches, annonces et avis divers, 5 avril 1782. Journal de Paris, 18 mars 1785. 62. "John Malcom Le 25 janvier 1774, la populace irritée pénétra sans armes dans sa maison... [etc.]." Sous le tr. c., à g.: "Dessiné et gravé par F. Godefroy de l'Académie Imp.le et R.le de Vienne, etc.". "No. 2." … Coll. de Vinck (no. 1164). Estampe annoncée au Journal de Paris, le 20 mars 1784, et dans les Affiches, Annonces et Avis divers du 13 avril 1784.")

Reference

Wellcome Collection 43311i

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