James Gillray

James Gillray
Charles Turner, James Gillray, 1819, mezzotint after Gillray's self-portrait, National Portrait Gallery, London
Born	(1756-08-13)13 August 1756[1][2] Chelsea, Middlesex, Great Britain
Died	1 June 1815(1815-06-01) (aged 58) St James's, City and Liberty of Westminster, United Kingdom
Nationality	English
Occupations	Caricaturist, printmaker

James Gillray (13 August 1756^[1][2] – 1 June 1815) was a British caricaturist and printmaker famous for his etched political and social satires, mainly published between 1792 and 1810. Many of his works are held at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Gillray has been called "the father of the political cartoon", with his works satirizing George III, Napoleon, prime ministers and generals.^[3] Regarded as one of the two most influential cartoonists, the other being William Hogarth, Gillray's wit and humour, knowledge of life, fertility of resource, keen sense of the ludicrous, and beauty of execution, at once gave him the first place among caricaturists.^[4][3][5]

Early life

He was born in

The name of Gillray's publisher and print seller,

Gillray's plates were exposed in Humphrey's shop window, where eager crowds examined them.[6] One of his 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, Drawing Out a New Batch of Kings; His Man, Talley Mixing up the Dough, a satire on Napoleon's king-making proclivities, are shown in the shop window.

In July 1811 Gillray attempted to kill himself by jumping out of an attic window above Humphrey's shop in St James's Street. Gillray lapsed into insanity and was looked after by Hannah Humphrey until his death on 1 June 1815 in London; he was buried in St James's churchyard, Piccadilly.

The art of caricature

A number of his most trenchant satires are directed against

The times in which Gillray lived were peculiarly favourable to the growth of a great school of caricature. Party warfare was carried on with great vigour and not a little bitterness; and personalities were freely indulged in on both sides. Gillray's incomparable wit and humour, knowledge of life, fertility of resource, keen sense of the ludicrous, and beauty of execution, at once gave him the first place among caricaturists. He is distinguished in the history of caricature by the fact that his sketches are real works of art. The ideas embodied in some of them are sublime and poetically magnificent in their intensity of meaning, while the forthrightness — which some have called coarseness — which others display is characteristic of the general freedom of treatment common in all intellectual departments in the 18th century. The historical value of Gillray's work has been recognized by many discerning students of history. As has been well remarked: "Lord Stanhope has turned Gillray to account as a veracious reporter of speeches, as well as a suggestive illustrator of events."^[4]

His contemporary political influence is borne witness to in a letter from Lord Bateman, dated 3 November 1798. "The Opposition", he writes to Gillray, "are as low as we can wish them. You have been of infinite service in lowering them, and making them ridiculous." Gillray's extraordinary industry may be inferred from the fact that nearly 1000 caricatures have been attributed to him; while some consider him the author of as many as 1600 or 1700. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, "Gillray is as invaluable to the student of English manners as to the political student, attacking the social follies of the time with scathing satire; and nothing escapes his notice, not even a trifling change of fashion in dress. The great tact Gillray displays in hitting on the ludicrous side of any subject is only equalled by the exquisite finish of his sketches—the finest of which reach an epic grandeur and Miltonic sublimity of conception."^[4]

Gillray's caricatures are generally divided into two classes, the political series and the social, though it is important not to attribute to the term "series" any concept of continuity or completeness. The political caricatures comprise an important and invaluable component of the history extant of the latter part of the reign of George III. They were circulated not only in

In 1788, appeared two fine caricatures by Gillray. Blood on Thunder fording the Red Sea represents Lord Thurlow carrying Warren Hastings through a sea of gore: Hastings looks very comfortable, and is carrying two large bags of money. Market-Day pictures the ministerialists of the time as cattle for sale.^[4]

Among Gillray's best satires on

Other political caricatures include: Britannia between Scylla and Charybdis, a picture in which Pitt, so often Gillray's butt, figures in a favourable light; The Bridal Night; The Apotheosis of Hoche, which concentrates the excesses of the French Revolution in one view; The Nursery with Britannia reposing in Peace; The First Kiss these Ten Years (1803), another satire on the peace, which is said to have greatly amused Napoleon; The Hand-Writing upon the Wall; The Confederated Coalition, a swipe at the coalition which superseded the Addington ministry; Uncorking Old Sherry; The Plumb-pudding in danger (probably the best known political print ever published); Making Decent; Comforts of a Bed of Roses; View of the Hustings in Covent Garden; Phaethon Alarmed; and Pandora opening her Box.^[4]

As well as being blatant in his observations, Gillray could be incredibly subtle, and puncture vanity with a remarkably deft approach. The outstanding example of this is his print Fashionable Contrasts;—or—The Duchess's little Shoe yeilding [sic] to the Magnitude of the Duke's Foot. This was a devastating image aimed at the ridiculous sycophancy directed by the press towards Frederica Charlotte Ulrica, Duchess of York, and the supposed daintiness of her feet. The print showed only the feet and ankles of the Duke and Duchess of York, in an obviously copulatory position, with the Duke's feet enlarged and the Duchess's feet drawn very small. This print silenced forever the sycophancy of the press regarding the union of the Duke and Duchess.

The miscellaneous series of caricatures, although they have scarcely the historical importance of the political series, are more readily intelligible, and are even more amusing. Among the finest are: Shakespeare Sacrificed; Two-Penny Whist (which features an image of Hannah Humphrey); Oh that this too solid flesh would melt; Sandwich-Carrots; The Gout; Comfort to the Corns; Begone Dull Care; The Cow-Pock, which gives humorous expression to the popular dread of vaccination; Dilletanti Theatricals; and Harmony before Matrimony and Matrimonial Harmonics—two sketches in violent contrast to each other.^[4]

• 
  Flemish Characters (1793), published by G. Humphrey, 27 St James's Street, 1 January 1822
• 
  Flemish Characters, published by G. Humphrey, 27 St James's Street, 1 January 1822

Famous editions

A selection of Gillray's works appeared in James Gillray: The Caricatures printed between 1818 and the mid-1820s and published by John Miller, Bridge Street and W. Blackwood, Edinburgh. Nine parts were released. The next edition was Thomas McLean's, which was published with a key, in 1830.

In 1851

The next edition, entitled The Works of James Gillray, the Caricaturist: with the Story of his Life and Times (Chatto & Windus, 1874), was the work of Thomas Wright,^[10] and introduced Gillray to larger public. This edition, which is complete in one volume, contains two portraits of Gillray, and upwards of 400 illustrations.^[4]

Collecting

Auction prices for Gillray's work have increased since the 1970s. At the auction of the Draper Hill Collection at Phillips auctioneers in London in 2001, several key prints, including Fashionable Contrasts, sold for more than US$10,000. Since 2002, annual auctions of caricatures at Bonhams in London, each of which included large selections of Gillray prints, have continued this trend. An impression of Light expelling Darkness sold in 2006 for over US$9,000, while Fashionable Contrasts sold in the same year for over US$20,000.

This dramatic increase in prices has also led to unscrupulous sellers attempting to pass off prints from the Bohn Edition as originals, and it can be difficult for those unfamiliar with these practices to tell the difference between a restrike (commonly called "a Bohn") and an original. The key indicators of a print coming from the Bohn Edition are (i) the presence of a number in the top, right-hand corner of the print (the number is most commonly in the image itself, but may be outside in the margin); (ii) the fact that the Bohn edition was issued without colouring; and (iii) the fact that the strikes for the main published volumes of the Bohn Edition were printed on both sides of the paper (the Bohn Edition of the so-called "Suppressed Plates" was, like the originals, printed on one side of the paper only). However, the fact that a print is single-sided does not mean that it is not a Bohn restrike: there are in existence many Bohns (for example, Light expelling Darkness) that bear a number, but which are printed on one side of the paper only. These single-sided numbered strikes are almost always printed on much higher quality paper than was used for the bound volumes, and the quality of the printing is usually much superior too, with more care having been taken to ensure a crisp impression. These impressions are believed to have been struck by Henry Bohn with a view to colouring them, and then selling them as high-quality single prints, in much the same way as the prints published in Gillray's lifetime. There are many example of such single-sided restrikes, both coloured and uncoloured. Since prices for Bohns are usually between one-tenth and one-twentieth of those for originals, unscrupulous sellers will go to great lengths to disguise the fact that a print is a Bohn. Some common methods include: (i) tortuously worded descriptions, which attempt to avoid disclosure of the fact the print is a restrike (although some sellers will just plain lie); (ii) if the number is outside the image, trimming the print to the very edges of the image; (iii) if the number is inside the image, carefully abrading the surface to obliterate the number; (iv) cutting strips of the image to remove the number; (v) laying the print to paper or framing it such that it is difficult to determine whether there is printing on the reverse; and (vi) adding colour.

Also recently^[when?] the prices of the John Miller editions are rapidly increasing in value because they are affordable for collectors and is seen as a solid investment^{[by whom?]}. They are seen as good alternative to the desirable originals of Mrs. Humphrey's print shop.

Gallery

• 
  The American Rattle Snake (1782)
• 
  Light expelling Darkness,—Evaporation of Stygian Exhalations,—or—The Sun of the Constitution, rising superior to the Clouds of Opposition (1795)
• 
  Fashionable Contrasts;—or—The Duchess's little Shoe yeilding [sic] to the Magnitude of the Duke's Foot (1792)
• 
  Following the Fashion — Short-bodied gowns, a Neo-Classical trend in women's clothing styles (1794)
• 
  A Burgess of Warwick Lane — John Burges, on tiptoe outside a building in Warwick Lane (1795)
• 
  The Whore's Last Shift (1779)
• 
  A noble lord, on an approaching peace, too busy to attend to the expenditure of a million of the public money
• 
  Siege de la Colonee de Pompée — A group of French savants huddle together at the top of a column
• 
  The Dissolution — Pitt as an alchemist, using a crown-shaped bellows to blow the flames
• 
  Regardez moi ("Look at me")
• 
  National Conveniences, published by Hannah Humphrey 25 January 1796
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• 
• 
  British Tars Towing the Danish Fleet into Harbour (1807)
• 
  Hand-coloured etching depicting the use of Perkins' tractors.

Influence

Gillray is still revered as one of the most influential political caricaturists of all time, and among the leading cartoonists on the political stage in the United Kingdom today, both Steve Bell and Martin Rowson acknowledge him as probably the most influential of all their predecessors in that particular arena ^{[citation needed]}. Professor David Taylor, a University of Toronto expert in political satire, stated in 2013, "Without question, if the leading cartoonist back then—James Gillray—had depicted Rob Ford he would have been far more merciless than they are today."^[11]

Regarded as being one of the two most influential cartoonists, the other being William Hogarth, Gillray has been called the father of the political cartoon.^[3] The 20th-century New Zealander cartoonist David Low described Hogarth as the grandfather and Gillray the father of the political cartoon.^[3] The face of Court Flunkey from the 1980s/1990s British television satirical puppet show Spitting Image is a caricature of Gillray, intended as a homage to the father of political cartooning.^[12]

In the article titled A Rousseauian Reading of Gillray's National Conveniences John Moores wrote, "As National Conveniences and The Fashionable Mamma show, Gillray was interested in the ideas of Rousseau, his work was influenced by them, and, as later designs on revolution and radicalism indicate, he held Rousseau in higher regard than other revolutionary influences, using a Rousseauian technique of misspelling to place uncertainty in his depictions of Rousseau's texts."^[13]

References

Sources

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Gillray, James". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 23–24.

Further reading

• Clayton, Tim. "James Gillray: A Revolution in Satire" Yale University Press (2022)
• Haywood, Ian. "'The dark sketches of a revolution': Gillray, the Anti-Jacobin Review, and the Aesthetics of Conspiracy in the 1790s". European Romantic Review 22.4 (2011): 431–451.
• Haywood, Ian. "The Transformation of Caricature: A Reading of Gillray's The Liberty of the Subject". Eighteenth-Century Studies 43.2 (2010): 223–242. online
• Hill, Draper. Mr. Gillray: The Caricaturist, a Biography (Phaidon Publishers Incorporated, distributed by New York Graphic Society, 1965).
• Loussouarn, Sophie. "Gillray and the French Revolution". National Identities (Sept 2016) 18#3 pp 327–343.
• Patten, Robert L. "Conventions of Georgian Caricature". Art Journal 43.4 (1983): 331–338.
• Price, Chris. "'Pictorially Speaking, so Ludicrous': George IV on the Dance Floor", Music in Art: International Journal for Music Iconography XLIII/1–2 (2018), 49–65.

Primary sources

• Gillray, James. The Satirical Etchings of James Gillray (Dover Publications, 1976), black-and-white reproductions.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to James Gillray.

Wikisource has original works by or about:
James Gillray

• James Gillray Gallery at MuseumSyndicate
• GreatCaricatures.com: James Gillray Galleries
• James Gillray at The
  National Portrait Gallery (United Kingdom)
  .
• James Gillray and James Gillray: The Art of Caricature at The Tate Britain.
• "Images related to James Gillray".
  NYPL Digital Gallery
  .
• James Gillray prints Archived 29 November 2009 at the Wayback Machine at the Lewis Walpole Library of Yale University.
• University of Nottingham Visual Resources – James Gillray cartoons
• Historical and Descriptive Account of the Caricatures of James Gillray by Thomas Wright, R. H. Evans
• Princeton University. Gillray Collection
• James Gillray: Caricaturist [1]