Orage causé par l'Impôt sur le Thé en Amérique
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
sheet (trimmed within plate line): 7 7/8 x 7 9/16 in. (20 x 19.2 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Charles Allen Munn, 1924
Accession Number
24.90.1426
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
Art Historical Context
This French engraving, created anonymously around 1775, captures the political turmoil sparked by Britain's tea tax in colonial America. Titled "Orage causé par l'Impôt sur le Thé en Amérique" ("Storm Caused by the Tax on Tea in America"), it satirizes the events leading to the Boston Tea Party and the broader American Revolution. The work reflects how European observers viewed the growing conflict, using symbolic figures of men and women to dramatize the clash between imperial authority and colonial resistance. As an engraving, the medium allowed for wide circulation of political commentary ...