James Gillray

British, 1757 - 1815

Explore Selected Works

See all 19 works of art
James Gillray, Hannah Humphrey, Very Slippy Weather, published 1808, hand-colored etching and engraving on wove paper, Gift of the Arcana Foundation, 1996.51.1

Very Slippy Weather

James Gillray, Hannah Humphrey · published 1808 · hand-colored etching and engraving on wove paper ·  Accession ID  1996.51.1

James Gillray, Hannah Humphrey, The Union Club, 1801, etching and engraving, hand-colored with watercolor by the publisher, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 2012.45.1

The Union Club

James Gillray, Hannah Humphrey · 1801 · etching and engraving, hand-colored with watercolor by the publisher ·  Accession ID  2012.45.1

James Gillray, Hannah Humphrey, The Apotheosis of Hoche, 1798, etching, engraving, and aquatint printed in brown on laid paper [proof], Anonymous Gift, 2019.52.1

The Apotheosis of Hoche

James Gillray, Hannah Humphrey · 1798 · etching, engraving, and aquatint printed in brown on laid paper [proof] ·  Accession ID  2019.52.1

James Gillray, Hannah Humphrey, Titianus Redivivus, 1797, etching, engraving, and aquatint with publisher's hand-coloring, on laid paper, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 2013.170.4

Titianus Redivivus

James Gillray, Hannah Humphrey · 1797 · etching, engraving, and aquatint with publisher's hand-coloring, on laid paper ·  Accession ID  2013.170.4

This caricature shows a pink-skinned man with long, spindly arms, widely straddled legs, and a bulbous, potbellied torso blowing scraps of paper with puffed cheeks in this vertical, colored etching. He stands with his body facing us, hands planted near his hips, but he turns his narrow head to our right in profile as he blows out the slips of paper. Tall ass’s ears flank a red crown plastered with more scraps of paper. The papers on the crown and being blown out of the man’s pursed lips all read “one.” The man’s long, pointed nose and rotund cheeks are bright red, and lank, light brown hair brushes his neck. Eyebrows are arched over heavy-lidded eyes. His rounded belly is made up of yellow disks, possibly coins, that also reach up his long, thin neck. A cursive letter “L,” the symbol for a British pound, is written on the belly. A padlock hangs from a chain around his neck, bearing the words, “Power of securing Public Credit.” His long fingers hook around either side of his torso. A yellow skeleton key with a tag reading, “Key of Public Property” hangs from his left pinky finger, to our right. His arms are covered in blue sleeves with yellow buttons at the cuffs, and a scarlet-red cloak with yellow epaulets hangs over his arms and swirls around his shins. His feet are planted wide and he wears parchment-colored, knee-length britches, light blue stockings, and black shoes with buckles. He straddles a miniature view into a building labeled the “BANK OF ENGLAND,” where coins and slips of paper rain down from the ceiling. Tiny in scale, about two dozen men wearing dark hats and coats in brown, blue, red, or green look up and gesture toward the ceiling. At the center of the room is a domed structure about the height of the men. To our left of the main caricatured man and near his leg, five heads emerge from a bank of reedy grass. Each head has a red cap, and a white speech bubble angling from each mouth reads, “Midas has Ears.” Beyond the grass and heads, turquoise water leads back to a shoreline with a sign reading “BREST” and a flag striped horizontally with red, white, and blue. To our right, near the man’s waist, three miniature, light-skinned men with round faces and paunchy bellies float around a banner. Cloaks affixed around their necks flutter around their otherwise nude bodies, and they raise their hats high above their heads with one hand. The banner reads, “Prosperous state of British finances and the new plan for diminishing the national debt with hints on the increase of commerce.” The sky above these vignettes has a band of blue clouds. The paper being blown from the man’s mouth fills the upper right corner of the paper but in the upper left, touches of light blue beneath peach-colored dots suggest countless angels or bodies shooting into the sky. Under the border around the printed image, across the bottom, and inscription reads, “MIDAS, Transmuting all into GOLD PAPER,” and the word “GOLD” has been crossed out with overlapping, diagonal lines. The inscription continues below: “History of Midas, The great Midas having dedicated himself to Bacchus, obtained from that Deity, the power of changing all he Touched — Apollo fixed Asses Ears upon his head, for his Ignorance & although he tried to hide his disgrace with a Regal Cap, yet the very Sedges which grew from the Mud of the Pactolus, whispered out his Infamy, whenever they were agitated by the Wind from the opposite Shore __ Vide Ovids Metamorpho,” the last word fading out. In smaller letters, the work is inscribed “Js. Gy. inv & ft” under the lower left corner of the image, and “Pub. March 9th 1797 by H. Humphrey New Bond Street” under the lower right corner.
James Gillray, Hannah Humphrey, Midas, Transmuting All into Paper, 1797, etching with publisher's hand-coloring in watercolor on laid paper, Purchased as an Anonymous Gift, 2015.49.1

Midas, Transmuting All into Paper

James Gillray, Hannah Humphrey · 1797 · etching with publisher's hand-coloring in watercolor on laid paper ·  Accession ID  2015.49.1

James Gillray, Hannah Humphrey, Modern Grace, 1796, etching and engraving with publisher's hand coloring on laid paper, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 2013.170.3

Modern Grace

James Gillray, Hannah Humphrey · 1796 · etching and engraving with publisher's hand coloring on laid paper ·  Accession ID  2013.170.3

James Gillray, Hannah Humphrey, Sin, Death, and the Devil, vide Milton, 1792, etching hand-colored with watercolor on laid paper, Anonymous Gift, 2017.173.1

Sin, Death, and the Devil, vide Milton

James Gillray, Hannah Humphrey · 1792 · etching hand-colored with watercolor on laid paper ·  Accession ID  2017.173.1

James Gillray, Hannah Humphrey, French Liberty and British Slavery, 1792, etching, hand-colored with watercolor by the publisher, on laid paper, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 2012.45.2

French Liberty and British Slavery

James Gillray, Hannah Humphrey · 1792 · etching, hand-colored with watercolor by the publisher, on laid paper ·  Accession ID  2012.45.2

James Gillray, Hannah Humphrey, Wierd-Sisters; Ministers of Darkness; Minions of the Moon, 1791, etching, engraving and aquatint printed in sepia on wove paper, with publisher's hand-coloring and inscriptions by Gillray, Anonymous Gift, 2017.49.1

Wierd-Sisters; Ministers of Darkness; Minions of the Moon

James Gillray, Hannah Humphrey · 1791 · etching, engraving and aquatint printed in sepia on wove paper, with publisher's hand-coloring and inscriptions by Gillray ·  Accession ID  2017.49.1

James Gillray, S. W. Fores, Monstrous Craws, at a New Coalition Feast, 1787, etching, engraving, and aquatint, with publisher's hand coloring in watercolor, on laid paper, Anonymous Gift, 2020.113.1

Monstrous Craws, at a New Coalition Feast

James Gillray, S. W. Fores · 1787 · etching, engraving, and aquatint, with publisher's hand coloring in watercolor, on laid paper ·  Accession ID  2020.113.1