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Object Type
This object is a trade card - an advertisement, as well as a business card, often also used by the tradesman as a bill or receipt. This trade card has been printed, using two techniques - stipple etching and engraving.

Subjects Depicted
The vignette on this trade card celebrates 'the glory of England', showing 'Painting' depicting a naval battle. Another muse holds up a print of a naval hero. The names of heroes of other battles and recent British victories are inscribed on the shields and the column. The accompanying text describes the vignette and discusses the range of goods and services that Rudolf Ackermann provided.

Britain's lengthy struggle during the French Revolutionary War (1793-1802) and the following Napoleonic War (1803-1815) meant that patriotic feelings were high at the time this card was printed. By including a vignette on his trade card devoted to the theme of 'the glory of England', Ackermann aimed to advertise his support for the British position regarding the conflict in a way that would encourage clients to patronise his businesses.

Trading
Rudolf Ackermann's business empire, The Repository of Arts, located in London's Strand, was an extremely diverse concern. As well as selling artists' materials and fancy goods, Ackermann exhibited and sold contemporary prints and watercolours. He also began a circulating library of prints and drawings, which subscribers could borrow to take home. The Repository was a publishing business too, producing illustrated books and periodicals. One of its most famous publications was the magazine The Repository of Arts, which covered 'Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashions, and Politics'.