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The Repeal, or the Funeral of Miss Ame-Stamp

After Benjamin Wilson British
Publisher Carington Bowles I British
1766
Not on view
British politicians are imagined processing through the London docks to mourn the repeal of the Stamp Act on March 18, 1766. A year before, Parliament had imposed this excise tax on printed goods imported to the American colonies. Resulting boycotts led British merchants to pressure the government for repeal, and this anti-tax image mocks the act’s leading supporters. Behind two flag bearers, George Grenville (dismissed as chief minister in 1765) carries a small coffin marked "Miss Ame[rica] Stamp." He is followed by Lord Bute, another former chief minister identified by his Scottish bonnet and tartan suit. The London publisher Carington Bowles borrowed the composition from a print issued by a rival that sold thousands of copies. It uses the language of political satire Romeyn de Hooghe developed in Holland, combined with a simple dramatic structure that makes the elaborate allegory easy to understand.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Repeal, or the Funeral of Miss Ame-Stamp
  • Etcher: Anonymous, British, 18th century
  • Artist: After Benjamin Wilson (British, Leeds 1721–1788 London)
  • Publisher: Carington Bowles I (British, 1724–1793)
  • Published in: London
  • Date: 1766
  • Medium: Hand-colored etching
  • Dimensions: Plate: 8 7/8 × 13 5/8 in. (22.5 × 34.6 cm)
    Sheet: 11 1/8 × 14 7/8 in. (28.3 × 37.8 cm)
    Frame: 16 × 21 in. (40.6 × 53.3 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Gift of Walter L. Hildberg, 1923
  • Object Number: 23.42
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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