| Method | Etching with hand colouring |
| Artist | James Gillray |
| Published | Js. Gillray inv. & fec. Publish'd Febr. 8th. 1806 by H. Humphrey_27 St. James's Street, London. |
| Dimensions | Image 340 x 240 mm, Plate 350 x 245 mm, Sheet 360 x 270 mm |
| Notes |
Gillray's satirical presaging of events following the death of the Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger, issued just days before the official formation of the Ministry of All the Talents. At centre, Charles James Fox, Whiggish stateman and leading antagonist of both Pitt and King George III, is depicted in the guise of Satan carrying a hapless John Bull, representative of the British citizenry, to a new and glorious future. Fox, corpulent, cloven hooved, and winged with a pair of feathery pinions which carry the mocking labels of 'Honesty' and 'Humility,' looks over his right shoulder, as the terrified John Bull clutches at a cape emblazoned with the assumed credo of this new Ministry: 'Loyalty, Independence, & Public Good.' Fox is propped up upon a pair of crutches under each arm, bearing the faces of Lord Sidmouth, and William Grenville. The smirking Fox, wearing a revolutionary's liberty cap decorated with a tricolor cockade and the three ostrich plumes of the Prince of Wales - a reference to his assumed twin political allegiances - seeks to reassure Bull: 'Come along Johnny!_take fast hold of my Cloak, & I'll bring you to the Land of Milk & Honey!!!' The poor cit, his wig and tricorn falling as he struggles to keep his grasp, responds: '_O Yes, I will try to hold fast!_but I'm damnably afraid that your Cloak may slip off before we get there, & I may chance to break my Neck!' The 'Land of Milk and Honey' is in fact Carlton House, the private residence of the Prince, around whom had gathered what was effectively an alternative parliament, in opposition to the Pittite Tories and his father the King. The House sits upon a cloud, with the sun of a 'New Constitution' rising behind. On the billows before the House, the virtues of Liberty, Chastity, and Temperance are exhibited in turn by the Prince gaming with Sheridan, fondling Mrs Fitzherbert on a couch, and wassailing at a drinkers table. Below them all, plumes of black smoke rise from London, represented by the dome of St Paul's and the gates of St James'. Historically, Gillray's caricature is an important one, having been issued by Hannah Humphrey just days before William Grenville's appointment as Prime Minister on the 11th of February. William Pitt had died on the 23rd of January, his death likely hastened by the stress of the ongoing war with Napoleon. Grenville's new Ministry, a government of national unity, involved the leading politicians from all of the largest factions of parliament with the exception of the staunchest Pittites. Grenville himself, as well as Prime Minister, became the First Lord of the Treasury and Leader of the House of Lords, Sidmouth was made Lord Privy Seal and later President of the Council, while Fox, who had stood in opposition for twenty two years, was made Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in the hope that his reputation as being sympathetic to the French Revolutionary cause might assist in brokering a peace. The Ministry was in this regard a failure, and broke up barely a year later, though is chiefly remembered for its success in bringing about the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade in 1807. James Gillray (c.1756-1815) was a British caricaturist and printmaker famous for his etched political and social satires. Born in Chelsea, Gillray studied letter-engraving, and was later admitted to the Royal Academy where he was influenced by the work of Hogarth. His caricature L'Assemblée Nationale (1804) gained huge notoriety when the Prince of Wales paid a large sum of money to have it suppressed and its plate destroyed. Gillray lived with his publisher and print-seller Miss (often called Mrs) Humphrey during the entire period of his fame. Twopenny Whist, a depiction of four individuals playing cards, is widely believed to feature Miss Humphrey as an ageing lady with eyeglasses and a bonnet. One of Gillray's later prints, Very Slippy-Weather, shows Miss Humphrey's shop in St. James's Street in the background. In the shop window a number of Gillray's previously published prints, such as Tiddy-Doll the Great French Gingerbread Maker [...] a satire on Napoleon's king-making proclivities, are shown in the shop window. His last work Interior of a Barber's Shop in Assize Time, from a design by Bunbury, was published in 1811. While he was engaged on it he became mad, although he had occasional intervals of sanity. Gillray died on 1 June 1815, and was buried in St James's churchyard, Piccadilly. BM Satires 10525 Condition: Very good impression. Trimmed to outside plate mark and tipped to old album sheet. Minor creasing to top and bottom corners at left of sheet. |
| Framing | unmounted |
| Price | £1,500.00 |
| Stock ID | 52274 |