William Hogarth, The South Sea Scheme, etching and engraving, 44x37 cm

William Hogarth's etching and engraving published in 1721. Satire on the financial scandal of the South Sea Bubble (1720-21). The art work represents a composite scene in the City of London identified by the Guildhall, St Paul's Cathedral and the Monument (its inscription changed to record the destruction of the city by the South Sea); a crowd is gathered around a merry-go-round (on which ride a prostitute, a clergyman, a shoe-black, an old crone and a Scottish nobleman); to left, the Devil hacks the limbs of Fortune, while religious leaders (both Anglican and Jewish) play at pitch and hustle; to right, emblematic figures of Honour and Honesty are beaten by Self-Interest and Villainy, and Trade sleeps.