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Les Free-Massons
1735
Bernard Picart, designer; Claude duBose, engraver
Netherlands: Amsterdam
Copperplate engraving on paper
overall: 15-1/2"h x 21-1/8"w
Special Acquisitions Fund
91.008.4

Les Free-Massons; engraving titled "Les Free Massons"; eleven 18th c. men wearing Masonic aprons meet before an L-shaped table on which stand three large candlesticks; at left, a chair with back decorated with Masonic symbols; the background is a large wall-chart divided into 129 numbered rectangular panels each listing, in order of precedence, all Masonic lodges constituted by the Grand Lodge of England, together with the logo of the tavern were they meet; above, the Arms of Thomas Thynne, 2nd Viscount Weymouth (Grand Master in 1735); below, a medallion portrait labeled "Sir Richard Steel". The imprint line below reads "L.F.D.B., inv." and "I.F., scul."


Early lodges in Europe met in taverns and initiated new members as part of a banquet, sometimes using L-shaped tables like the one seen in this engraving. The panel in the background lists the 129 Masonic lodges operating in 1735, including Lodge 326, "Boston in New England." At the top is an oval portrait of Sir Richard Steele (1672-1729), who founded the English journal, The Tatler, in 1709. Probably a Freemason, he was a famous essayist and dramatist. In this Dutch print, published in 1735, the artist depicted Masons, dressed in regalia, gathered below a large sign listing the numbers of English lodges, along with an image or name identifying the name of the tavern, inn, or coffee house where each lodge met. The Boston lodge founded in 1733 is number 126 on the sign, shown without a picture. For further information, see Hamilton, John D., "Material Culture of the American Freemasons." Lexington: 1994. Fig. 2.01