March of Intellect. Mechanical, 1829 (hand coloured etching on paper)

Artist: Robert Seymour (1798-1836) Satire on steam consisting of five images around a central image, published by Thos. McLean. 26 Haymarket, London. Six satirical vignettes published by Thomas McLean, London, based on the concept of the potential uses of steam power. The drawings depict, in clockwise direction from top left: 'War by steam'; a flying machine; 'Phrenological cases. To form the intellect'; 'Amputation by steam'; 'Quick passage to the Antipodes', which shows a shaft drilled from the northern to the southern hemisphere through which people are transported upside-down, so that when they reach the other side they will be standing upright!; and 'Beauty makers from Paris', in which people are depicted being stretched into absurd shapes by a steam-driven machine. Robert Seymour (1798-1836) was a British London-based illustrator and caricaturist. His works were prominent in the 1820s and 1830s in prints, books and periodicals. He provided illustrations for Charles Dickens' Pickwick Papers and several commercial printings with publishers to great public success.