Pick of the Week: A profiteer of the South Sea Bubble

THIS remarkable ‘English School’ satirical oil is recorded in contemporary prints titled Lucifer’s New Row-Barge, a version of which is in the British Museum. It depicts Robert Knight (1675-1744), the cashier of the South Sea Company who in 1719 successfully negotiated with the government of the day to incorporate all the national debt into the South Sea Company. Knight greatly profited personally from this process – and the many bribes to MPs and peers he recorded in a famous green book – and bought an estate in Essex for £20,000.