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[Robert Powel the Puppet Show man] – Antique Wall Art

[Robert Powel the Puppet Show man], [England : Published not named, 1715] — antique engraving
[Robert Powel the Puppet Show man], [England : Published not named, 1715]. Antique engraving from the Historic Print Archive collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

Few images capture their era like this antique engraving of [Robert Powel the Puppet Show man]. An authentic image from the Library of Congress, it carries the weight of the real historical record.

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[Robert Powel the Puppet Show man]

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A puppet showman named Robert Powel is the figure at the center of this 1715 English engraving, and the title is a burlesque aimed at the Lord High Treasurer, the Earl of Oxford. The Earl was Robert Harley, a Tory minister who had led the government until the Hanoverian succession in 1714, and the shared first name is the joke that links the showman to the statesman. Puppet shows were a popular London entertainment, and comparing a politician to a puppet operator was a common way for satirists to mock a public figure's manipulation of events. The record does not name the artist or publisher, so the piece is best read as a typical example of the period's party-driven political cartoons.

Created / published[England : Published not named, 1715]
Medium1 print : engraving.
GenreCartoons (Commentary) British 1710-1720.Engravings 1710-1720.
NotesTitle translated: Burlesque referring to the Lord High Treasurer, the Earl of Oxford This record contains unverified data from Stephens. Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires / prepared by Frederic George Stephens, v. 2, no. 1598 Forms part of: British Cartoon Prints Collection (Library of Congress).
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan926 × 1,536 px · prints to 3 × 5 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-110060

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