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South Sea Bubble
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South Sea Bubble

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‘An Emblematic Print on the South Sea’ by William Hogarth, 1724. To the left, the Devil carves up the figure of Fortune and throws it to the crowd. In the centre of the scene, investors ride the financial merry-go-round. Honesty is strapped to the wheel at the bottom, being tortured by Self-Interest. At the bottom right, Trade lies languishing on the ground. Hogarth (1697–1764) was an English painter and engraver who used his artwork as a medium for critical social commentary.

Financial crisis in Britain in 1720. The South Sea Company, founded in 1711, which had a monopoly of trade with South America, offered in 1719 to take over more than half the national debt in return for further concessions. Its 100 shares rapidly rose to 1,000, and an orgy of speculation followed. When the ‘bubble’ burst, thousands were ruined.

The discovery that cabinet ministers had been guilty of corruption led to a political crisis.
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The collapse of the South Sea Company in 1720 ruined early Georgian England.
The myth of the banker on the edge ignores a wider misery by guardian.co.uk / guardian.co.uk
The paintings were thought to have been brought to Britain in 1724 by Sir William Chapman, a director of the South Sea Company, and were bought by Bishop Richard Trevor in 1756 for pounds 124.
Where King Charles' head hit the pillow by The Journal (Newcastle, England)
When it commissioned its first building from George Sampson in 1733, it had already seen off competition from organisations like the South Sea Company as a manager of public debt, and proved its ability to finance Britain's wars more efficiently than other countries.
Sound as a pound by Melvin, Jeremy / The Architectural Review
 
 
 
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