Thomas Muir Junior of Huntershill, 1765 - 1798. Transported for sedition
About this artwork
Muir spent his life fighting for the rights of the poor and the oppressed. Encouraged by the Revolution in France, he pressed for parliamentary reform in Britain. In 1793 he was charged with sedition and sentenced to fourteen years exile in Botany Bay, Australia. Three years later Muir arranged his escape to America but he was arrested by the Spanish and badly injured when the ship he was on was attacked by the British. Assumed to be dead by the authorities, Muir reached Paris where he was treated as a great hero and martyr. In this engraving, beneath the image, there is a verse adapted from a poem by James Thomson. It begins: “Should fate command me to the farthest verge. Of the green earth, to distant barbarous climes…”
Updated before 2020
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artist:Thomas Holloway (1748 - 1827) English
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title:Thomas Muir Junior of Huntershill, 1765 - 1798. Transported for sedition
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date created:Published 1795
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after:Thomas Banks (1735 - 1805) English
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materials:Line engraving on paper
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measurements:10.80 x 8.89 cm
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object type:
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credit line:Bequeathed by William Finlay Watson 1886
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accession number:SP IV 106.1
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gallery:
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depicted:
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subject:
Thomas Holloway
Thomas Holloway
Holloway enrolled in the Royal Academy Schools in 1773. From this date until 1777 he exhibited a range of works at the Royal Academy, including portraits in crayon and oil, seals and engraved gems. However, it was as an engraver that he made his living. The largest project he worked on was the...