| Method | Etching with hand colouring |
| Artist | James Gillray |
| Published | Js. Gillray fect. & delt. Publish'd May 28th 1801 by H. Humphrey No. 27 St James's Street. |
| Dimensions | Image 238 x 350 mm Plate 247 x 356 mm Sheet 319 x 440 mm |
| Notes |
Gillray's scathing opinion of the leading figures of the newly ascendent Addington ministry following the resignation of the Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger. Each of the central figures is shown as a diminutive caricature of his predecessor, a pointed commentary on the prevailing sentiment of the time that Addington and his Cabinet members were generally a lacklustre shadow of Pitt's Government. Gillray has added helpful crib notes to the bottom of the scene to ensure the comparison cannot be misconstrued by the viewer. From left to right, the central figures are as follows: Lord Loughborough's comedically large wig is worn by the new Chancellor, Lord Eldon, who sings absentmindedly 'O such a Day as This, so renown'd, so victorious, Such a Day as This, was never seen!' while dandling his feet from the side of the Woolsack, kicking the 'Treasury Bench'. Upon the Bench, holding the principal position in the scene, stands Addington himself, ridiculous in Pitt's cocked hat and blue and red Windsor uniform, both of which swamp his meagre frame. His entire body is enclosed within 'Mr Pitt's Jack-Boot' as he exclaims unashamedly 'Well! to be sure these here Cloaths do fit me to a inch!_& now that I've got upon this Bench, I think I may pass muster for a fine tall Fellow, & do as well for a Corporal as my old Master, Billy, himself!!!_' Beside him, in a dejected mood, stands Hawkesbury, the new Foreign Secretary, inheriting the ill-fitting breeches of Pitt's cousin Grenville, who had resigned alongside Pitt over the King's refusal to back Catholic Emancipation. He cries out 'Mercy upon me!_what a Deficiency is here!!! ah poor Hawkee!_what will be the consequence, if these d_d Breeches should fall off in thy "March to Paris," & thou should be found out a Sans-Culotte?' In the background between the two, the new War Secretary, Charles York, sulks beneath a huge cap and feather previously belonging to Windham. On the right of the scene, the stout Lord Hobart bears the bloody broadsword and Scots cap of Dundas, his worried expression betraying his fear, despite his best attempts to reassure himself and his colleagues with a stirring speech: 'Ay! Ay! leave Us to settle them all! here's my little Andrew Ferrara!!!_was it not Us that tip'd 'em the broadside in the Baltic?_was it not Us that gave ye Crocodiles a breakfast in Egypt?_I'm a Rogue if it is not Us that is to save little England from being swallow'd up in the Red Sea!!!' The final contribution to the conversation comes from the corpulent and gouty Lord Glenbervie, the new Paymaster General, who struggles because of his affliction to don the slippers of his predecessor Canning: 'ah Damn his narrow Pumps! I shall never be able to bear them long on my Corns!_zounds! are these shoes fit for a Man in present-pay Free Quarters?' The final pair of figures, the 'Treasury Ink Stands,' are the new Secretaries of the Treasury, John Hiley Addington and Nicholas Vansittart, who, like the Prime Minister, are swamped by the Windsor coats of their forebears, Rose and Long. 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 9722 Condition: Good impression with minor creasing and time toning to edges of sheet. Old adhesive marks from album sheet to verso. |
| Framing | unmounted |
| Price | £2,150.00 |
| Stock ID | 52276 |