These images are provided for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons License (BY-NC-ND). To license a high resolution version, please contact our image library who will discuss fees, terms and waivers.
Download this imageCreative commons explained - what it means, how you can use our's and other people's content.
Venus turn'd Proctor
Printmaker:
Unknown
Publisher:
Sledge, Sarah
Etching on laid paper. Satirical print. A scene in a picture gallery contained within an etched border. A man in academic gown and bands and wearing a wig stands in a pose adopted from the Venus de Medici. A boy to his left holds out a dead cat which he has apparently just taken from a basket containing arrows on the floor in front of him. A halberd leans against the wall at centre right, a small bonnet speared upon its spike (the spoils of a Cambridge Proctor). On the wall are three framed pictures with titles beneath, from left to right: 'The Gentleman / and Scholar / United', 'Dead Game', a still life of two books, the Bible and 'University Statutes', from which projects a pair of clerical bands inscribed "6s 8d". An open pamphlet with the books is inscribed: 'A Sermon preached at Wisbech assizes before'. Three prints pinned beneath each picture can all be identified as satires published by Sarah Sledge, from left to right: 'The Bear, the Louse and Religion a Fable', 'Venus turn'd Proctor' and 'The Justice in the Suds'. Etched on the plate in the lower margin, a poem in three verses begins at lower left and continues at lower right: 'O Venus Beauty of the Skies, / To whom a thousand Temples rise, / Gayly false in gentle Smiles,- / In Mathematicks he was greater / Than Tycho Brake, or Erra Pater: / For he, by Geometrick Scale, / Cou'd take the Size of Pots of Ale; / Resolve by Sines & Tangents, straight; / If Bread or Butter wanted weight; / He knew What's What, & that's as high / As Metaphysick Wit can fly; / All lov'd him well, who knew his Fame, / And sent him Cats, instead of Game.'. At the centre of the lower margin, the title is etched within a double-edged border above and below: 'Venus turn'd P--ct-r'. The price is etched at lower left: 'Price 1s = 6d'. The publisher's details are etched at lower right: 'London publish'd by Mrs Sledge Henrietta Street / Covent Garden'. More information about the context of the satire can be found with the impression held at the British Museum: 1868,0808.4490.
Unknown
by unknown
18th Century
Production date:
circa
AD 1773
Height 175mm (plate) x width 196mm (plate)
Accession number: P.14857-R
Primary reference Number: 225466
Stephens/George: 5189
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Paintings, Drawings and Prints
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Venus turn'd Proctor" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/225466 Accessed: 2024-05-02 08:04:07
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/225466
|title=Venus turn'd Proctor
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-05-02 08:04:07|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:
https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-225466
To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:
<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/pdp/pdp82/large_P_14857_R_1_amt49_201908_dc2.jpg"
alt="Venus turn'd Proctor"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Venus turn'd Proctor</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
Accession Number: M.127-2015
Accession Number: 1880.4.21-22
Accession Number: P.281-1954
Accession Number: PD.27-2003
Updates about future exhibitions and displays, family activities, virtual events & news. You'll be the first to know...
