Pope rising in a balloon dispensing salvation
Publisher
Hannah Humphrey
(English, active 1745 – 1818)
Date1810
CultureUnited Kingdom
MediumInk on paper
ClassificationPrints
Credit LineTibbals Circus Collection
Object numberht8000184
Translation: I, too, must attempt a way by which I may raise myself above the ground
This satirical print mocks the appointment of a statesman, Lord Greenville, to the position of Chancellor of Oxford University. The Baron’s portly body and religious aspirations are mocked as he rises in a balloon, the shape of which mimics his body, while donning the papal tiara. Gillray uses imagery common to public balloon flights to convey a sense of the spectacle involved with the appointment ceremony.
On View
Not on viewCollections
SHEET: 21 × 16 in. (53.3 × 40.6 cm)
Pope Clement XI
Case: late sixteenth or early seventeenth century; Wax: eighteenth century
