James Gillray
James Gillray belongs to the golden age of British satirical printmaking, working chiefly in hand-coloured etching to skewer the politics, royalty and social manners of his day. The Met's holding of ninety sheets ranges across etching, aquatint and engraving combinations, with satires such as The Plumb-Pudding in Danger and Ci-devant Occupations standing beside mythological burlesques like Cymon and Iphigenia. The impressions date from 1780 to 1824, so the run extends past the artist's lifetime and includes later printings of his plates.
90 works in the collection · All public domain (CC0)
![James Gillray — Portrait of a Child [Master Lamb]](https://oldart.vernisio.com/archiv/James_Gillray/James_Gillray_Portrait_of_a_Child_Master_Lamb_1781_klein.jpg)
Portrait of a Child [Master Lamb]
1781 · Soft-ground etching and rocker work
Cymon and Iphigenia (1796)
1796 · Watercolor, pen and black ink over graphite
Metallic Tractors
1802 · Hand-colored etching and aquatint
The Theatrical Bubble; being a new Specimen of the Astonishing Powers of the Great Politiico-Punchinello in the Art of Dramatic Puffing (1805)
1805 · Hand-colored etching
Spanish Patriots Attacking the French Banditti – Loyal Britons Lending a Lift
1808 · Pen and gray and brown ink, brush and colored washes
Theatrical Mendicants Relieved - have Pity upon all our Aches and Wants!
1824–27 · Hand-colored etching
A Cockney & his Wife going to Wycombe
1824–27 · Etching
Pylades and Orestes
April 1, 1797 · Hand-colored etching
Delicious Dreams! –Castles in the Air! –Glorious Prospects!
April 10, 1808 · Hand-colored etching
The American Rattle Snake (April 12, 1782, Met-Objekt 4325)
April 12, 1782 · Etching
The American Rattle Snake (April 12, 1782, Met-Objekt 4326)
April 12, 1782 · Etching
No Flower that Blows is Like this Rose
April 12, 1796 · Etching
The Bulstrode Siren
April 14, 1803 · Hand-colored etching with stipple
French Habits, No. 2 - Les Membres du Conseil des Anciens
April 18, 1798 · Hand-colored etching
The Pigs Possessed:–or–the Broad Bottom'd Litter Running Headlong into Ye Sea of Perdition
April 18, 1807 · Hand-colored etching
Blowing-up the Pic-Nic's;–or–Harlequin Quixote Attacking the Puppets, vide Tottenham Street Pantomime
April 2, 1802 · Etching; proof
The Pic-Nic Orchestra
April 23, 1802 · Hand-colored etching and engraving
Mendoza
April 24 [1788] · Etching and aquatint
Despair
April 8, 1802 · Hand-colored etching
Spanish-Patriots Attacking the French-Banditti– Loyal Britons Lending a Lift
August 15, 1808 · Hand-colored etching
Pen-etration
August 6, 1799 · Hand-colored etching
Tendanda via est qua me quoque possim tollere humo–Virgil, Geor:
August 8, 1810 · Etching
Improvement in Weights and Measures; or, Sir John Seeclear Discovering Ye Ballance of Ye British Flag
December 1, 1798 · Hand-colored etching
Two Pair of Portraits, presented to all the unbiased Electors of Great Britain by John Horne Tooke
December 1, 1798 · Etching with engraving
Tom Paine's Nightly Pest
December 10, 1792 · Etching and aquatint
The York-Minuet
December 14, 1791 · Hand-colored etching
French Liberty – British Slavery (December 21, 1792, Met-Objekt 4395)
December 21, 1792 · Hand-colored etching
French Liberty – British Slavery (December 21, 1792, Met-Objekt 4404)
December 21, 1792 · Hand-colored etching
A Bravura Air. Mandane (December 22, 1801, Met-Objekt 4339)
December 22, 1801 · Hand-colored etching
A Bravura Air. Mandane (December 22, 1801, Met-Objekt 4340)
December 22, 1801 · Etching
Substitutes for Bread;–or–Right Honorables, Saving the Loaves, & Dividing the Fishes
December 24, 1795 · Hand-colored etching
Counsellor O.P.–Defender of our Theatric Liberties (December 5, 1809, Met-Objekt 4343)
December 5, 1809 · Hand-colored etching
Counsellor O.P.–Defender of our Theatric Liberties (December 5, 1809, Met-Objekt 4344)
December 5, 1809 · Hand-colored etching
Melpomene
December 6, 1784 · Etching and aquatint; open letter state
The Duke of Athol, East Indiaman
February 1, 1785 · Etching and engraving
–So Skiffy-Skipt On, With his Wonted Grace" – Vide Birthday Ball. See Morning Herald. Jan-y 20th
February 1, 1800 · Hand-colored etching
A Bouquet of the Last Century
February 1, 1802 · Hand-colored etching
Pillars of the Constitution. Three O'Clock & a Cloudy Morning
February 1, 1809 · Hand-colored etching
The Zenith of French Glory; – The Pinnacle of Liberty. Religion, Justice, Loyalty, & all the Bugbears of Unenlightened Minds, Farewell!
February 12, 1793 · Hand-colored etching and engraving
Ci-devant Occupations; or, Madame Talian and the Empress Josephine Dancing Naked before Barrass in the Winter of 1797. - A Fact!
February 20, 1805 · Hand-colored etching
The Plumb-Pudding in Danger;–or–State Epicures Taking un Petit Souper
February 26, 1805 · Hand-colored etching
Farmer Giles and His Wife Showing Off Their Daughter Betty to Their Neighbours on her Return from School
January 1, 1809 · Hand-colored etching
A Military Sketch, of a Gilt Stick, or Poker Emblazoned
January 11, 1800 · Hand-colored etching
Tiddy-Doll, the Great French-Gingerbread-Baker; Drawing Out a New Batch of Kings, His Man Hopping Talley, Mixing Up the Dough
January 23, 1806 · Hand-colored etching
A Sphere, Projecting Against a Plane
January 3, 1792 · Hand-colored etching
A Phantasmagoria; — Scene – Conjuring-Up an Armed-Skeleton
January 5, 1803 · Hand-colored etching
Lordly Elevation
January 6, 1802 · Hand-colored etching
The Theatrical Bubble; being a new Specimen of the Astonishing Powers of the Great Politiico-Punchinello in the Art of Dramatic Puffing (January 7, 1805)
January 7, 1805 · Etching and aquatint
The Wounded Lion
July 16, 1805 · Hand-colored etching
A Voluptuary Under the Horrors of Digestion
July 2, 1792 · Hand-colored etching
Temperance Enjoying a Frugal Meal (July 28, 1792, Met-Objekt 4400)
July 28, 1792 · Hand-colored etching
Temperance Enjoying a Frugal Meal (July 28, 1792, Met-Objekt 4401)
July 28, 1792 · Hand-colored etching
Alecto and Her Train, at the Gate of Pandaemonium:–or–The Recruiting Sarjeant Enlisting John Bull, Into the Revolution Service
July 4, 1791 · Hand-colored etching
Elegance Democratique – A Sketch Found Near High-Wycombe
July 8, 1799 · Hand-colored etching
The Esplanade
June 1, 1797 · Hand-colored etching
Hyder Ally
June 13, 1781 · Stipple engraving
Enter Cowslip with a Bowl of Cream. - vide Brandenburg Theatricals
June 13, 1795 · Hand-colored etching
Shakespeare – Sacrificed; or, The Offering to Avarice
June 20, 1789 · Etching and aquatint; undescribed state
Characters in High Life
June 20, 1795 · Etching
Political-Candour;– i.e.–Coalition-Resolutions of June 14th, 1805.–Pro bono Publico–
June 21, 1805 · Hand-colored etching
The King of Brobdingnag and Gulliver.–Vide. Swift's Gulliver: Voyage to Brobdingnag
June 26, 1803 · Hand-colored etching and aquatint
A Pair of Polished Gentlemen
March 10, 1801 · Hand-colored etching
Uncorking Old Sherry
March 10, 1805 · Hand-colored etching
A Plumper for Paul!–or–the Little Taylor Done Over; vide–the terrible Effects of provoking a Red-hot Shot from the Broad-Bottom'd-Whig-Battery
March 13, 1807 · Hand-colored etching
The State Waggoner and John Bull.–or–the Waggon too Much for the Donkeys!
March 14, 1804 · Hand-colored etching
The Bottomless-Pitt
March 16, 1792 · Hand-colored etching; open letter state
A Kick at the Broad-bottoms!– i.e. Emancipation of "All the Talents &c" - Vide the Fate of Ye Catholic Bill
March 23, 1807 · Hand-colored etching and aquatint
Venus a la Coquelle: or the Swan-sea Venus
March 28, 1809 · Hand-colored etching
More Pigs Than Teats,–or–the New Litter of Hungry Grunters, Sucking John-Bull's-Old-Sow to Death
March 5, 1806 · Hand-colored etching
The Inexpressible Air of Dignity,–the Incomprehensible je-ne-sais Quoi of Elegance, which Appertains Solely to Men of High Fashion."–Vide, Lord Chesterfield's Letters
March 9, 1803 · Hand-colored etching
L'Enfant Trouvé:–a Sample of Roman Charity!–or–the Misfortune of Not Being Born with Marks of "the Talents"
May 19, 1808 · Hand-colored etching
Cymon and Iphigenia (May 2, 1796)
May 2, 1796 · Hand-colored etching
The Magnanimous–Minster, chastising Prussian–Perfidy.–Vide–Morning Chronicle April 28th
May 2, 1806 · Hand-colored etching
Modern Elegance, a Portrait
May 22, 1795 · Hand-colored etching
The Right Honorable William Pitt
May 28, 1789 · Etching and engraving
The Friend of the People & his Petty New Tax Gatherer, Paying John Bull a Visit
May 28, 1806 · Hand-colored etching
Monstrous Craws at a New Coalition Feast
May 29, 1787 · Etching and aquatint
The Marriage of Cupid and Psyche
May 3, 1797 · Aquatint, printed in brown ink
Modern Grace; - or the Operatical Finale to the Ballet of Alonzo e Caro
May 5, 1796 · Hand-colored etching
Germans Eating Sour-Krout
May 7, 1803 · Hand-colored etching
From Sir William Hamilton's Collection
May 8, 1801 · Hand-colored etching
Maecenas, in pursuit of the Fine Arts.–Scene, Pall Mall; a Frosty Morning
May 9, 1808 · Hand-colored etching
Introduction of Citizen Volpone & His Suite, at Paris.–Vide, The Moniteur, & Cobbetts Letters
November 15, 1802 · Hand-colored etching
An Old Maid on a Journey
November 20, 1804 · Hand-colored etching
British Tars Towing the Danish Fleet into Harbour; the Broad-Bottom Leviathan trying Billy's Old Boat, and the Little Corsican tottering on the Clouds of Ambition
October 1, 1807 · Hand-colored etching
French Volunteers Marching to the Conquest of Great Britain
October 25, 1803 · Hand-colored etching
The Reception of the Diplomatique and his Suite at the Court of Pekin
September 14, 1792 · Hand-colored etching
A Peep at Christies;–or–Tally-ho & his Nimeny-pimeney taking the Morning Lounge
September 24, 1796 · Hand-colored etching and aquatint
Politeness
after 1780 · Hand-colored etching
Theologie à la Turque and a Peep of the Coptic Mayor at Cairo, preceded by the Procureur de la Commune
after March 12, 1799 · Etching