Emblematical Print on the South Sea Scheme [SEP] creator
Emblematical Print on the South Sea Scheme
Emblematical Print on the South Sea Scheme (also known as The South Sea Scheme) is an early print by William Hogarth, created in 1721 and widely published from 1724. It caricatures the financial speculation, corruption and credulity that caused the South Sea Bubble in England in 1720–1. The print is often considered the first editorial cartoon or as a precursor of the form.
Background.
The South Sea Company was a British joint stock company founded in 1711. It was granted a
Paulson has described "Emblematical Print on the South Sea Scheme" as "the one original Bubble print by an English artist". John J. Richetti, in "The Cambridge history of English literature, 1660–1780", states that "English graphic satire really begins with Hogarth's "Emblematical Print on the South Sea Scheme"".