Use of images as historical evidence

Context

The image depicts the international financier Nathan Rothschild in 1829.

The artist was Alfred Crowquill (real name Alfred Henry Forrester). This playful rendition anticipates his future work on children's illustrated books.

What is the message of the print?

Rothschild is embodied as a life-size humming top. From the artistic point of view of perspective, the figure of Rothschild is larger than life as he stretches up into the clouds. The use of clouds conveys elements of speculation (puffs of air or bubbles being common icons depicting speculation). A humming top, a child's toy, is described as spinning. The latter is a form of visual metaphor as the text states that the top 'is spinning a loan'. Spinning would usually mean creating or devising, and Rothschild was associated with arranging many international loans. By extension in the phrases 'spinning a yarn or a web' the aim of the artist could have also been suggesting subtly that the financial activities were of a speculative nature.

In the centre of the humming top Rothschild is depicted dispensing bags of coin (commissions?) to royal kings and queens - Rothschild was famous during the 1820s for arranging numerous international loans especially for countries in Europe (Austria, France, Germany, Italy etc.)

The bellows beside the bottom of the humming top could represent both literally the action of blowing air to keep the humming top spinning constantly. Figuratively it could also represent the dangers of speculation - a visual metaphor for 'blowing air'.

Whilst Rothschild and other financiers are occasionally depicted as animals (serpents, octopuses) in French caricatures during the nineteenth century, the normal depiction of Rothschild in the 1820s was as a stereotypical Jew, dressed in black, with a long beard, uttering a form of guttural English. This stereotypical depiction of the Other did carry connotations of sly sharp financial practice, but such innuendos are absent overtly from the Crowquill caricature.

The tiny figure of Croesus at the bottom evokes association with the extremely wealthy King of Lydia who was alleged to have invented gold coinage. It provides a visual metaphor for the phrase ' as rich as Croesus' which comments on Rothschild's own wealth.

The profile of Rothschild is similar to other depictions of him in the same period (see Dighton and Howell Jones).

This detailed interpretation provides some insights into the artist's expectations of the contemporary reader to appreciate the historical, iconographic and cultural meanings in the image.