The American Rattle Snake Poster Giclée Print

The American Rattle Snake Poster Giclée PrintCartoon shows the "American" snake, the emblem used by Americans as a device on their flag before the adoption of the stars and stripes, with two of three coils around units of British soldiers, commanded by Burgoyne and Cornwallis at the time of their surrender. Gillray is lampooning the British war effort. The verse printed below the image reflects the widespread sympathy in England for the American cause. The rattlesnake became a symbol of the

Cartoon shows the "American" snake, the emblem used by Americans as a device on their flag before the adoption of the stars and stripes, with two of three coils around units of British soldiers, commanded by Burgoyne and Cornwallis at the time of their surrender. Gillray is lampooning the British war effort. The verse printed below the image reflects the widespread sympathy in England for the American cause.

The rattlesnake became a symbol of the American colonies after Benjamin Franklin used the serpent in his well-known "Join or Die" cartoon from 1754. At the end of the American Revolutionary War, as the United States and Great Britain were negotiating a peace treaty, British cartoonists used the rattlesnake to portray the U.S. as vindictive yet powerful.

A black and white etching, attributed to James Gillray, of an 18th-century cartoon. It depicts a large, coiled rattlesnake in coils. Within two of the coils are surrendering troops of the British army under Generals Cornwallis and Burgoyne at Yorktown, Virginia, on October 18, 1781. A sign hanging on the snake’s tail reads: An / Apartment / to lett for / Military Gen / -tlemen. Written on the snake's extended tongue: Two British Armies I have thus Burgoyn'd. / And room for more I've got behind. Below the illustration is a verse: Britons within the Yankee Plains, / Mind how ye March & Trench, / The Serpent in the Congress reigns, / As well as in the French. The title of the cartoon is centered below the image: The AMERICAN RATTLE SNAKE. Published April 12th, 1782 by W. Humphrey, NO. 227 Strand.

Museum-quality prints made on thick and durable matte paper. Add a wonderful accent to your room and office with these posters that are sure to brighten any environment. These prints were adapted from the originals at the Library of Congress and Metropolitan Museum of Art.

 

• Paper thickness: 10.3 mil
• Paper weight: 5.57 oz/y² (189 g/m²)
• Giclée printing
• Opacity: 94%
• ISO brightness: 104%