Coelum ipsum petimus stultitia [graphic].

Creator:

Sandby, Paul, 1731-1809, printmaker. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n85110442

Copyright Date:

[1784]

Physical Description:

1 print : etching and aquatint in sepia ink on laid paper ; sheet 23.6 x 34 cm

Related Links:

http://hdl.handle.net/10079/digcoll/lwlpr37516

Notes:

Title etched below image.
Printmaker and date of publication from British Museum catalogue.
Sheet trimmed within plate mark.

Abstract:

"A companion print to British Museum satires nos. 6700, 6701, 6703. An enormous balloon not completely inflated rests on a platform suspended between two masts; it is exploding, flames and thick clouds of smoke pour from a crease in its contour, a number of men with faggots on their backs run from the balloon, others are on the platform, which is covered by a large cloth or net which hangs in folds. In the air (left), as if having sprung from the exploding part of the balloon, is a small balloon in the form of a head, identical with that in British Museum Satires No. 6704, with the same inscription and passenger. From it streams, in place of a rope, the tail of a kite. This evidently represents the bursting of Keegan's balloon in the garden of Foley House. A circle of posts with a rope keeps the spectators, who are fashionably dressed, from the balloon. Two men inside the barrier (right), probably Blanchard and Sheldon, who was to be pilot (see British Museum Satires No. 6703) run towards the balloon shouting directions through speaking-trumpets. In the foreground is one of the small balloons which were commonly sent up on the occasion of an ascent, cf. British Museum Satires No. 6668. In the background are trees. A number of spectators watch from the top of the high garden-wall (left). [Foley House was noted for its extremely high wall. 'Town and Country Magazine' xvi, 625] Behind are houses, evidently those in or near Portland Place. Sheldon's projected ascent ended in disaster on 25 Sept. 1784. He attempted to fill a balloon more than three times the size of Lunardi's by heated or rarefied air produced by a furnace suspended below the balloon. The balloon was supported on two masts and on a platform; it burst while it was being filled. See 'London Chronicle', Sept. 24, 28, 29. Except for the contour of the balloon which appears to burlesque human posteriors, and for the little balloon in the shape of a fool's head, this is probably a realistic rendering of the scene, see British Museum Satires No. 6703."--British Museum online catalogue.

Topics:

Aircraft accidents.
Balloons (Aircraft)
Fires.
Spectators.

Topics:

Blanchard, Jean-Pierre,--1753-1809.--http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n83019700
Lunardi, Vincent,--1759-1806.--http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n84024577
Sheldon, John,--1752-1808.--http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/nr93035414

Language:

Latin

Genre:

Aquatints--England--London--1784.
Etchings--England--London--1784.
Satires (Visual works)--England--1784.

Format:

Image

Content Type:

Prints & Photographs

Rights:

These images are provided for study purposes only. For publication or other use of images from the Library's collection, please contact the Lewis Walpole Library at walpole@yale.edu. Further details on the Library's photoduplication policy are available at http://www.library.yale.edu/walpole/html/research/rights_reproductions.html

Call Number:

784.00.00.79+

Orbis Record:

14080466

Yale Collection:

Lewis Walpole Library

Digital Collection:

Lewis Walpole Library

Local Record Number:

lwlpr37516

Citation:

Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires, v. 6, no. 6702
Gunn, A.V. Prints of Paul Sandby (1731-1809), 293

OID:

16831364

PID:

digcoll:4787778