Description:
Hand-colored engraving of the Boston Massacre (second state) by Paul Revere (1734-1818) titled "The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt." The lower right corner of the image has "Engrav'd Printed & Sold by Paul Revere Boston." "The Bloody Massacre," which is one ot the earliest political prints created in America, depicts a confrontation between a group of civilians gathered in front of the customs house and goaded a lone sentry; a struggle ensued and a small British contingent of seven soldiers and one officer came to support the sentry. A shot was fired, resulting in a melee during which five civilians were killed. A small dog, the symbol of obedience and loyalty, stands in the center foreground. The first printed account of the event appeared one week later in the "Boston Gazette." Although the “massacre” must undoubtedly have been the most crucial news of the week, the front page of the newspaper contained legal notices and an essay attacking a letter published in a rival paper. The anonymous report begins on page two, surrounded by a heavy black border that signaled mourning. On the facing page, striking images of four coffins with initials represent those immediately killed: Samuel Gray, Samuel Maverick, James Caldwell, and Crispus Attucks, the “victims who fell in the bloody Massacre.” The newspaper’s partisan prose depicted the violence as a wanton act of British oppression directed against an innocent population. Henry Pelham (1749-1806) began a copperplate illustrating the mortal hour under the title of "The Fruits of Arbitrary Power," which he showed to Paul Revere for criticism. Revere immediately saw its commercial and political potential, and copied and published it well ahead of Pelham's and only a few weeks after the incident. Pelham wrote Revere that: "If you are insensible of the Dishonour you have brought on yourself by this act, the World will not be so. However, I leave you to reflect upon and consider of one of the most dishonorable Actions you could well be guilty of." This second state is most commonly identified by the hands of the twin hall clock showing the time as 10:20. In his haste, Revere inadvertantly engraved the time on the clock to show eight o'clock, and oversight that was soon corrected to the actual time of the incident, 10:20pm. Among the most recognized and important early American prints, Paul Revere's "The Bloody Massacre" is one of three nearly identical portrayals of the pivotal event of March 5th, 1770; the others were produced by Henry Pelham and Jonathan Mulliken. Revere was the first to distribute the depiction, however, he was not the original draftsman of the composition. Revere's engraving was advertised for sale in the March 26th editions of the "Boston Evening Post" and the "Boston Gazette" with the following explanation: "A Print, containing a Representation of the late horrid Massacre in King-Street." Two days later Revere noted in his day book that he had paid the printer/publisher Edes and Gill to produce 200 impressions.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+0864 |
