Old Royal Gets The Acid Touch in New Exhibition
Georgian satirist, James Gillray prints on display at Fairfax House.
At Home with the Royals
The Royal Family is in the frame, meticulously caricatured to within an inch of the treasonable, in the exhibition At Home with the Royals, featuring some of James Gillray’s finest and funniest late 18th century drawings and showing at Fairfax House, York, from 6th August to 30th September 2007.
The “warts and all” approach of the ruthless satirist to his hapless victims of the blood royal, with a generous pinch of politicians thrown in for good measure, was a huge source of humour in the England of the late 1700’s, mid-way through the reign of King George 111. The public found scandal and royal dalliances an endless source of fun.
In London, crowds would gather outside the shop windows of print sellers (a print’s size matched that of the window pane), for a glimpse of Gillray’s witty ‘take’ on the latest gossip, rumour or scandal at the court of King George - and there was plenty. Portfolios of the prints were rented out for an evening’s viewing in the same way videos are now; pored over for hours and trawled for clever clues. The middle and working classes took increasingly to caricature as they learned more gossip and news from the newspapers than could be found in coffee houses and pubs, followed up by free viewing through the print-shop windows.
The King’s apparent preference for gardening and farming to statecraft; his fragile hold on sanity; the Queen’s plainness; the Prince Regent’s multiple mistresses, drunkenness and debt; the royal princes’ penchants for actresses, all became visual jokes.
Whether lampooned by Gillray for their greed for dowry money (they had fifteen children) or their economy measures as they toasted their own muffins, gave up sugar, ate a lot of lettuce, saved on candlewax or shopped for bargains in Windsor, King George and Queen Charlotte were fair game for the engraver. Gillray once even re-immersed an engraving plate, having added a few disgusting bristles to the Queen’s chin and a nasty droplet falling from her nose, in a truly acid touch.
George 111 was an undoubted favourite in Gillray’s cast of characters on the 18th century stage, often portrayed with a posterior of generous proportions and in a number of undignified positions. The King could certainly take a joke, however, and regarded Gillray as a better line drawer then even Sir Joshua Reynolds, saying “Gillray is the man, ‘a man of the people’…”
It was the Prince of Wales, later Prince Regent and future George 1V, who had a distinct sense of humour failure where Gillray’s unflattering cartoons were concerned. From the age of eighteen, the Prince’s wild lifestyle had provided a nice little earner for the print-shops. Gillray’s superbly drawn satire, A Voluptuary under the horrors of Digestion features the 238lb bulk of the Prince of Wales, unbridled and unbuttoned after an excess of food and drink. It was this particular work which marked the twenty six year old Gillray’s abandonment of ‘serious’ engraving for a career in caricature.
The Prince, even depicted as an obese cherub and a corpulent piglet in engravings, tried many ways of ‘gagging’ Gillray. He offered large payments for the suppression of certain plates, occasionally ordering their destruction or ‘disappearance’, also buying in images printed on playing cards and teapots. The Royal Family must have been relieved when Prime Minister Pitt and the French began to replace it as the butt of national humour. Satire reflects society and people were becoming more kindly disposed towards King ‘Farmer’ George and his Queen. Gillray eventually ‘quit the battlefield’, possibly with the lure of a pension.
Says Fairfax House Director, Peter Brown: “It has been said that Gillray ‘seems to have had all the manners of a hungry cat in mid-spring’ and he was arguably a brilliant forerunner to Private Eye, if not the father and mother of all satirists who followed him. We are very lucky to have the work of such a virtuoso craftsman and entertainer on display at Fairfax House”.
… ENDS…
For further information, please contact:
Press Contacts: Peter Brown
Tel: 01904 655543
Email: peterbrown@fairfaxhouse.co.uk
or
Melanie Paris
Tel: 01904 647408
E mail: hello@melanieparis.com
The “warts and all” approach of the ruthless satirist to his hapless victims of the blood royal, with a generous pinch of politicians thrown in for good measure, was a huge source of humour in the England of the late 1700’s, mid-way through the reign of King George 111. The public found scandal and royal dalliances an endless source of fun.
In London, crowds would gather outside the shop windows of print sellers (a print’s size matched that of the window pane), for a glimpse of Gillray’s witty ‘take’ on the latest gossip, rumour or scandal at the court of King George - and there was plenty. Portfolios of the prints were rented out for an evening’s viewing in the same way videos are now; pored over for hours and trawled for clever clues. The middle and working classes took increasingly to caricature as they learned more gossip and news from the newspapers than could be found in coffee houses and pubs, followed up by free viewing through the print-shop windows.
The King’s apparent preference for gardening and farming to statecraft; his fragile hold on sanity; the Queen’s plainness; the Prince Regent’s multiple mistresses, drunkenness and debt; the royal princes’ penchants for actresses, all became visual jokes.
Whether lampooned by Gillray for their greed for dowry money (they had fifteen children) or their economy measures as they toasted their own muffins, gave up sugar, ate a lot of lettuce, saved on candlewax or shopped for bargains in Windsor, King George and Queen Charlotte were fair game for the engraver. Gillray once even re-immersed an engraving plate, having added a few disgusting bristles to the Queen’s chin and a nasty droplet falling from her nose, in a truly acid touch.
George 111 was an undoubted favourite in Gillray’s cast of characters on the 18th century stage, often portrayed with a posterior of generous proportions and in a number of undignified positions. The King could certainly take a joke, however, and regarded Gillray as a better line drawer then even Sir Joshua Reynolds, saying “Gillray is the man, ‘a man of the people’…”
It was the Prince of Wales, later Prince Regent and future George 1V, who had a distinct sense of humour failure where Gillray’s unflattering cartoons were concerned. From the age of eighteen, the Prince’s wild lifestyle had provided a nice little earner for the print-shops. Gillray’s superbly drawn satire, A Voluptuary under the horrors of Digestion features the 238lb bulk of the Prince of Wales, unbridled and unbuttoned after an excess of food and drink. It was this particular work which marked the twenty six year old Gillray’s abandonment of ‘serious’ engraving for a career in caricature.
The Prince, even depicted as an obese cherub and a corpulent piglet in engravings, tried many ways of ‘gagging’ Gillray. He offered large payments for the suppression of certain plates, occasionally ordering their destruction or ‘disappearance’, also buying in images printed on playing cards and teapots. The Royal Family must have been relieved when Prime Minister Pitt and the French began to replace it as the butt of national humour. Satire reflects society and people were becoming more kindly disposed towards King ‘Farmer’ George and his Queen. Gillray eventually ‘quit the battlefield’, possibly with the lure of a pension.
Says Fairfax House Director, Peter Brown: “It has been said that Gillray ‘seems to have had all the manners of a hungry cat in mid-spring’ and he was arguably a brilliant forerunner to Private Eye, if not the father and mother of all satirists who followed him. We are very lucky to have the work of such a virtuoso craftsman and entertainer on display at Fairfax House”.
… ENDS…
For further information, please contact:
Press Contacts: Peter Brown
Tel: 01904 655543
Email: peterbrown@fairfaxhouse.co.uk
or
Melanie Paris
Tel: 01904 647408
E mail: hello@melanieparis.com