1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910522933303321

Autore

Sless Henry

Titolo

Merchant Princes and Charlatans or Makers of Money? : Decoding Icons of Nineteenth Century British and International Finance / / by Henry Sless

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Palgrave Macmillan, , 2022

ISBN

9783030866044

9783030866037

Edizione

[1st ed. 2022.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (360 pages)

Disciplina

330.12

704.949332

Soggetti

Finance

History

Europe - History

Art - History

Financial History

European History

Art History

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di contenuto

Introduction -- Financial context -- Visual context -- The merchant princes -- The charlatans -- Financial iconography -- Gender -- The other -- The law -- Dreams and the unconscious -- Conclusion.

Sommario/riassunto

This book provides a critical analysis of visual images of British and international finance during the nineteenth century. Its focus is on the financiers themselves, contrasting the depiction of the respectable Merchant Princes with the less than perfect charlatans (white-collar criminals) who defrauded investors of millions. The breakdown of trust between financiers and investors that evolved during this period is represented visually in depictions of the emotional response of investors to the uncertain financial climate. Throughout the book a PEARL methodology has been used to critique the images reflecting the impact of any Publisher's political bias, the Editorial and Artistic



techniques used to convey the messages in the images, and the Legal context (especially a concern in countries such as France and Germany where censorship was strict). The book concludes that white-collar criminals were invariably secretly admired in Britain, and rarely severely satirised. Similarly, Merchant Princes were depicted favourably in Britain as members of the ruling elite during the latter half of the century. This is contrasted with the more extreme anti-monopolistic images in the US and the extreme anti-Semitic treatment of Jewish financiers in France and Germany. Henry Sless is currently a Research Associate at Henley Business School at the University of Reading, UK. He received a Master's in historical cartoons from the University of Kent, UK, and a doctorate in visual images of finance in the Victorian era from the University of Reading.