Het Committé van Rekening

This is the fifth plate of a twenty plate series, Hollandia Regenerata, etched by Gillray based on drawings by the Swiss soldier, painter, and caricaturist, David Hess. For more about David Hess, and the political and artistic context of the series satirizing the newly-created and French-supported Batavian Republic, see my Introduction.

The title can be translated as "The Accounting Committee."

As with all the plates in the series, the corresponding page to the image contains one or more appropriately ironic Biblical quotations in Dutch and English and a satiric "Explanation" in French. The Biblical quotation is as follows:

Ecclesiasticus, Jesus Sirach, xli. "Be ashamed of iniquity and unjust dealing before a congregation and people."

Here is the French text of the "Explanation."

Des Commissaires Français se presentent. Ils demandent des assignations sur la caisse. Impossible! repond le President au grand dépit des citoyens. Il est à supposer que les mem bres de ce Committé ne sont pas encore trop au fait de la mul tiplication-car chez ce quarré patriote deuxfois deux font 3. Il se doute cependant qu'il pourrait y avoir de l'erreur, et consulte la table de multiplication, qui fait l'ornement du Committé. Son collegue veut être encor plus sur de son fait il ne s'en fie qu'à ses doigts.

And here is my free (and tentative) English translation.

The French Commissioners present themselves. They demand assignments(?) from the register. Impossible, replies the President, to their great displeasure. It is to be supposed that the commisioners have not done much multiplication because in this patriot quarter two times two makes three. He fears, however, that he could be in error, and so consults the multiplication table which is the pride and joy of the committee. His colleague wants to be even more certain of his facts, so he relies only on his fingers.

The setting of the print is likely a local bank or accounting office. We see two men identified in the "Explanation" as Commissioners who appear to be demanding cash for their paper assignat or recipissen. But like many Dutch who tried to redeem their paper currency, they are discovering (to their chagrin) that payment is not forthcoming, either because there is no hard currency to back up the notes or (as we see here) the sheer incompetence or malfeasance of the accounting staff. The appearance of the two staff members—one pondering how two and two makes three; the other counting on his fingers— would suggest incompetence; the Biblical quotation accompanying the image, "iniquity and unjust deaing."

The straitened financial situation of Holland in the wake of the Batavian Revolution seems to have been personal for Hess. As a Swiss Guard employed by the state, his salary would have been paid by the Dutch government. But after the Revolution, that money would have come from the new Provisional Representatives. We can guess that like the two men presenting their note, Hess probably wasn't paid, for on a shelf listed as "Insolvable" or not payable, we can see a bale of notes inscribed as "Pretentions de Trouppes Suisses" (Claims of the Swiss Troups).

As in most of the plates of Hollandia Regenerata, Gillray follows the Hess's drawing very closely. The disposition of the figures and the details and meaning of the print all derive from Hess, but Gillray has sharpened every line and with a wonderful use of shading given a depth and solidity to the ground and the figures that is missing in the original Hess drawing. Everything has more contour and finish, especially the Mutiplication Table hanging on the wall and the bookcase of shelves next to it.

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Sources and Reading

• Commentary from the British Museum on Het Committé van Rekening.
• "Batavian Republic," Wikipedia
• "David Hess (painter)," Wikipedia
• "David Hess," SIKART Dictionary
• David Hess, Hollandia Regenerata (1797), Nawoord by Joost Rosendahl, Uitgeverij Vantilt, 2007
• Amanda Lahikainen, "Chapter 3: British Assignats" Unchecked Ideas: Humor and the French Revolution in British, Political Graphic Satire, 1789-1805

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