La bonnet-rouge - or - John Bull evading the tax hat

La bonnet-rouge - or - John Bull evading the tax hat

Item Information

Title:
La bonnet-rouge - or - John Bull evading the tax hat
Description:
John Bull stands full-face on the pavement outside a shop window, holding on his head a red cap trimmed with fur of quasi-military, quasi-libertarian shape. He is a yokel with wrinkled gaiters, with a tattered great-coat is held together by a military belt. In his left hand is a ragged hat. The shop is that of 'Billy-Black-Soul [Pitt], Hatter, & Sword-cutler.' Above the door (right) are the royal arms and 'Stamp-Office' (the tax on hats being levied by a stamp). Within the window are crossed swords and military cocked hats with a number of stamps bearing the royal arms. In the foreground (left) is a pile of dead cats with a paper (BM). / The hat tax was one of the new ways of increasing the revenue discovered this year. It is said to have led to an immense addition to the trade in caps, as a method of evading the direct tax. John Bull himself is here trying the experiment, but has chosen an objectionable colour (red). It is intimated that the excessive and increasing taxation under Pitt's government was making John Bull less and less hostile to the terrible "bonnet rouge" (Wright/Evans).
Artist:
Gillray, James, 1756-1815
Name on Item:
Js. Gy. Inv. & fect.
Date:
April 5, 1797
Format:
Prints
Genre:
Etchings
Caricatures
Satires (Visual works)
Location:
Boston Public Library
Arts Department
Collection (local):
John D. Merriam Collection
Subjects:
Politicians
Government officials
Taxes
Hats
John Bull (Symbolic character)
Pitt, William, 1759-1806
Extent:
1 print : hand-colored etching ; sheet 37 X 26 cm
Permalink:
https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/2z111j79w
Terms of Use:
No known copyright restrictions.
No known restrictions on use.
Publisher:
New Bond Street & St. James Street : Pub. by H. Humphrey
Language:
English
French
Notes:
Title from item.
BM Satires 9004; Wright/Evans 169
Handwritten material accompanying item: This hundred-year-old, hand-colored Gillray print shows John Bull's reaction to the new hat tax. The intimation is that Pitt's heavy taxation is making John less and less hostile to the real "bonnet rouge" of the revolution.
Notes (date):
Date from item.
Notes (citation):
Stephens, Frederic George, George, Mary Dorothy. "Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum." British Museum Press, 1870, London.
Wright, Thomas, R. H. Evans. "Historical and descriptive account of the caricatures of James Gillray." Benjamin Blom, 1968, New York.
Identifier:
18_17_000109
Barcode:
36666003787062