Pitt steers a small boat, 'the constitution', with a single sail, a union pennant flying from the mast, through huge waves between a high rock (left) and a whirlpool whose circumference is an inverted crown which merges in the swirling water. He is in profile to the right, gazing fixedly at a castle on a promontory (right) among still waters, which flies a flag inscribed 'haven of public happiness'. Britannia, a buxom young woman, sits in the boat, her hands raised in alarm, her head turned towards the rock, on the summit of which is a large bonnet-rouge with a tricolour cockade on a post within a ramshackle fence. Spray dashes against scylla; beside the rock and in the foreground (left) three sharks with human heads closely pursue pitt's boat: sheridan, fox, and priestley (good profile portraits), their eyes fixed menacingly on the boat. They are: 'sharks'; 'dogs of scylla'. Beneath the title: 'or - the vessel of the constitution steered clear of the rock of democracy [cf. Bmsat 8310], and the whirlpool of arbitrary-power. ' 8 april 1793
hand-coloured etching. Date: 1793. Dimensions: Height: 304 mm; Width: 356 mm. Medium: paper. Depicted People: Charles James Fox. Collection: British Museum. Britannia between Scylla and Charybdis. (BM J,3.12 1)
Loading...
