Contact Seller
Studio RT Ltd
Tel01622 812556Please quote Antiques Atlas.
Set of Six 19th Century Framed Etchings
Etching by Ian Fleming "What Is Life"
Signed Etching Of River & cathedral By R. Winter
set of 4 Naval etchings - Rowland Langmaid
Ambroise-Louis Garneray 2 Hand Coloured Aquatints
Frank Greenwood Etching Of Manchester University
Decorative Etchings Of 'Old Manchester'.
Pair Of Original Etchings By Jean Baptiste Guelard
Admiral Lord Nelson Pair Naval Officer Engravings
Herbert Dicksee (1862-1942) 'The King' etching
Herbert Dicksee 'In The Enemy's Country, etching
Set of 4 Signed Gordon House Ltd Edition Etchings
Non UK callers :
+44 1622 812556
1850 H.G.Bohn Jas. Gillray Restrike No.37 Election
We are offering for sale this later Hand Coloured Etching from the Original Plates by James Gllray, which was published originally on 14th August, 1788 by Hannah Humphrey of New Bond Street. It is entitled 'Election troops bringing in their accounts to the Pay-table'. This later coloured etching is one of the Bohn restrikes printed from the original Gillray plates by H. G. Bohn between 1847 and 1851. It bears the Number 37 in the top right hand corner, shown in the photos, but under the mount. The colouring is also bolder and different to that of the original 1788 ones.
The explanation of the caricature, which is rather pertinent in an election year, is thus.:
In John Bull in a Quandary a few weeks earlier, Gillray had shown a typical Westminster resident trying to decide which way to vote: Whig or Tory, Townshend or Hood. In that print, Gillray seemed clearly to favor the Tory candidate/Pitt supporter, Admiral Hood. But as it turned out, Lord John Townshend, a friend of the Whig leader Charles James Fox, won a surprising victory.
Here in this print Gillray seems to take another side, showing the essential venality of the Tory political process as the various hired Hood supporters gather before Pitt's Treasury to be paid for their unsuccessful election efforts.
In the 1780s, the Westminster elections had assumed an increasing symbolic importance as a bellwether of the nation's mood. So both parties not so secretly financed their preferred candidates, spending enormous amounts of money in the process. In the case of the Tories, however, Gillray suggests that the money is coming from public treasury funds. Pitt, of course, pretends that "Lord H[oo]d pays all the expenses himself." But then he secretly sends them around to the "back-door" where they wiill be paid by George Rose, one of Pitt's Secretaries of the Treasury.
At the head of the "troops" presenting bills is Major Topham, the editor of the newspaper/scandal sheet, The World "For Puffs & Squibbs, and for abusing the opposition." Immediately behind him is a pub owner presenting expenses for campaign food services, i.e. "For eating & Drinking for Jack-Ass boys." To his right a newspaper boy from the usually Whiggish newspaper, The Star, carries a bill "For changing sides [and] for hiring of Ballad Singers & Grub Street Writers." Two of the ballad singers—a fat and a thin woman can be seen behind the soldiers. Their fee is apparently "5 Shillings per Day." Next to them, a shoemaker holds out a bill "For voting 3 times." The sailors and soldiers who both figured prominently in the newspaper accounts of the "Battle of Bow Street," the subject of another Gillray print, carry bills for creating the incident and then putting it down. And finally, a Jew with upraised arms awaits the collection of his fee "For Perjury & procuring Jew voters
Taken together with Market Day from May, which featured members of the House of Lords being bought and sold, Election Troops, Bringing in Their Accounts. . . portrays the British political system in both houses of Parliament as one in which politicians all have their price and election support is not much more than paid political theater.
James Gillray (1756-1815), was a British caricaturist and printmaker famous for his etched political and social satires, mainly published between 1792 and 1810. Gillray is Generally accepted to be the greatest of all English Caricaturists, and the recent exhibition at the Tate Gallery in London, showed the range of his work. Initially he worked for a number of different publishers, but from the 1790's he worked exclusively for Humphreys.
The name of Gillray's publisher and print seller, Hannah Humphrey – whose shop was first at 227 Strand, then in New Bond Street, then in Old Bond Street, and finally in St James's Street – is inextricably associated with that of the caricaturist himself. Gillray lived with Miss (often called Mrs) Humphrey during the entire period of his fame. It is believed that he several times thought of marrying her, and that on one occasion the pair were on their way to the church, when Gillray said: "This is a foolish affair, methinks, Miss Humphrey. We live very comfortably together we had better let well alone." There is no evidence, however, to support the stories which scandalmongers invented about their relationship. One of Gillray's prints, "Twopenny Whist", is a depiction of four individuals playing cards, and the character shown second from the left, an ageing lady with eyeglasses and a bonnet, is widely believed to be an accurate depiction of Miss Humphrey.
Gillray's plates were exposed in Humphrey's shop window, where eager crowds examined them. 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.
Gillray's eyesight began to fail in 1806. He began wearing spectacles but they were unsatisfactory. Unable to work to his previous high standards, James Gillray became depressed and started drinking heavily. He produced his last print in September 1809. As a result of his heavy drinking Gillray suffered from gout throughout his later life.
His last work, from a design by Bunbury, is entitled Interior of a Barber's Shop in Assize Time, and is dated 1811. While he was engaged on it he became mad, although he had occasional intervals of sanity, which he employed on his last work. The approach of madness may have been hastened by his intemperate habits.
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.
After the failure of McLean's attempt to posthumously revive Gillray's career, the copperplates carrying his designs were returned to Humphrey's shop where they remained until the business was wound up in 1835. The Humphreys family put most of the contents of the shop up for auction but the poopularity of Georgian satire had reached such a nadir by the mid 1930s that the Gillray copperplates failed to meet their reserve price and were returned to the family, who eventually sold them at scrap value to the publishing house of H. G. Bohn. Bohn published all 610 designs in two massive volumes entitled 'The Works of James Gillray from the Original Plates' between 1847 and 1951. These volumes wer issed without colouring. In deference to the prudishness of Victorian Britain he also published a third volume, the so-called 'Supressed Plates', that contained some of Gillray's racier designs which Bohn made available for sale to male customers only.
The most noticeable feature of the Bohn editions is the presence of a number which was etched into the copperplate at the top right hand corner of each of the images. Sometimes this will be within the image itself, but in some examples, it can be found between the border of the image and the platemark. If the print has been trimmed, or framed, then it is possible that this serial number may have been lost and, unfortunately, you also occasionally see examples where the number appears to have been deliverately abraded from the print in order ot disguise the fact that it is a later copy.
Bohn prints taken from the bound volumes, will also have a second design printed on the reservse of the same piece of paper. However. Bohn also produced a number of single sheet Gillray designs which it appears were sold as separate items and so the absence of a second caricature on the verso of a print should not be taken as defnitive proof that the item is not a Bohn edition. The paper on which the Bohn single sided designs were produced is also much thicker and heavier than that which would have been used in Gillray's day, or was used in the volumes.
The etching is newly mounted in two-tone to complement and is newly framed in a 7/8 inch black frame. It will be supplied with new brass hangers, new brass picture wire and will be ready to hang.
Image size: 15 x 9 5/8 inches - 38cm x 24.5cm
Frame size 20 1/8 x 16 3/4 inches - 51.1cm x 42.55cm:
Medium: Etching with later colouring on paper llaid down on part of another print.
Condition: Very good. The Frame and mounts are new.
SellerStudio RT Ltd
View all stock from
Studio RT Ltd
Private Art dealer
By appointment only
Kent
England, UK
Tel : 01622 812556
Non UK callers : +44 1622 812556
The explanation of the caricature, which is rather pertinent in an election year, is thus.:
In John Bull in a Quandary a few weeks earlier, Gillray had shown a typical Westminster resident trying to decide which way to vote: Whig or Tory, Townshend or Hood. In that print, Gillray seemed clearly to favor the Tory candidate/Pitt supporter, Admiral Hood. But as it turned out, Lord John Townshend, a friend of the Whig leader Charles James Fox, won a surprising victory.
Here in this print Gillray seems to take another side, showing the essential venality of the Tory political process as the various hired Hood supporters gather before Pitt's Treasury to be paid for their unsuccessful election efforts.
In the 1780s, the Westminster elections had assumed an increasing symbolic importance as a bellwether of the nation's mood. So both parties not so secretly financed their preferred candidates, spending enormous amounts of money in the process. In the case of the Tories, however, Gillray suggests that the money is coming from public treasury funds. Pitt, of course, pretends that "Lord H[oo]d pays all the expenses himself." But then he secretly sends them around to the "back-door" where they wiill be paid by George Rose, one of Pitt's Secretaries of the Treasury.
At the head of the "troops" presenting bills is Major Topham, the editor of the newspaper/scandal sheet, The World "For Puffs & Squibbs, and for abusing the opposition." Immediately behind him is a pub owner presenting expenses for campaign food services, i.e. "For eating & Drinking for Jack-Ass boys." To his right a newspaper boy from the usually Whiggish newspaper, The Star, carries a bill "For changing sides [and] for hiring of Ballad Singers & Grub Street Writers." Two of the ballad singers—a fat and a thin woman can be seen behind the soldiers. Their fee is apparently "5 Shillings per Day." Next to them, a shoemaker holds out a bill "For voting 3 times." The sailors and soldiers who both figured prominently in the newspaper accounts of the "Battle of Bow Street," the subject of another Gillray print, carry bills for creating the incident and then putting it down. And finally, a Jew with upraised arms awaits the collection of his fee "For Perjury & procuring Jew voters
Taken together with Market Day from May, which featured members of the House of Lords being bought and sold, Election Troops, Bringing in Their Accounts. . . portrays the British political system in both houses of Parliament as one in which politicians all have their price and election support is not much more than paid political theater.
James Gillray (1756-1815), was a British caricaturist and printmaker famous for his etched political and social satires, mainly published between 1792 and 1810. Gillray is Generally accepted to be the greatest of all English Caricaturists, and the recent exhibition at the Tate Gallery in London, showed the range of his work. Initially he worked for a number of different publishers, but from the 1790's he worked exclusively for Humphreys.
The name of Gillray's publisher and print seller, Hannah Humphrey – whose shop was first at 227 Strand, then in New Bond Street, then in Old Bond Street, and finally in St James's Street – is inextricably associated with that of the caricaturist himself. Gillray lived with Miss (often called Mrs) Humphrey during the entire period of his fame. It is believed that he several times thought of marrying her, and that on one occasion the pair were on their way to the church, when Gillray said: "This is a foolish affair, methinks, Miss Humphrey. We live very comfortably together we had better let well alone." There is no evidence, however, to support the stories which scandalmongers invented about their relationship. One of Gillray's prints, "Twopenny Whist", is a depiction of four individuals playing cards, and the character shown second from the left, an ageing lady with eyeglasses and a bonnet, is widely believed to be an accurate depiction of Miss Humphrey.
Gillray's plates were exposed in Humphrey's shop window, where eager crowds examined them. 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.
Gillray's eyesight began to fail in 1806. He began wearing spectacles but they were unsatisfactory. Unable to work to his previous high standards, James Gillray became depressed and started drinking heavily. He produced his last print in September 1809. As a result of his heavy drinking Gillray suffered from gout throughout his later life.
His last work, from a design by Bunbury, is entitled Interior of a Barber's Shop in Assize Time, and is dated 1811. While he was engaged on it he became mad, although he had occasional intervals of sanity, which he employed on his last work. The approach of madness may have been hastened by his intemperate habits.
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.
After the failure of McLean's attempt to posthumously revive Gillray's career, the copperplates carrying his designs were returned to Humphrey's shop where they remained until the business was wound up in 1835. The Humphreys family put most of the contents of the shop up for auction but the poopularity of Georgian satire had reached such a nadir by the mid 1930s that the Gillray copperplates failed to meet their reserve price and were returned to the family, who eventually sold them at scrap value to the publishing house of H. G. Bohn. Bohn published all 610 designs in two massive volumes entitled 'The Works of James Gillray from the Original Plates' between 1847 and 1951. These volumes wer issed without colouring. In deference to the prudishness of Victorian Britain he also published a third volume, the so-called 'Supressed Plates', that contained some of Gillray's racier designs which Bohn made available for sale to male customers only.
The most noticeable feature of the Bohn editions is the presence of a number which was etched into the copperplate at the top right hand corner of each of the images. Sometimes this will be within the image itself, but in some examples, it can be found between the border of the image and the platemark. If the print has been trimmed, or framed, then it is possible that this serial number may have been lost and, unfortunately, you also occasionally see examples where the number appears to have been deliverately abraded from the print in order ot disguise the fact that it is a later copy.
Bohn prints taken from the bound volumes, will also have a second design printed on the reservse of the same piece of paper. However. Bohn also produced a number of single sheet Gillray designs which it appears were sold as separate items and so the absence of a second caricature on the verso of a print should not be taken as defnitive proof that the item is not a Bohn edition. The paper on which the Bohn single sided designs were produced is also much thicker and heavier than that which would have been used in Gillray's day, or was used in the volumes.
The etching is newly mounted in two-tone to complement and is newly framed in a 7/8 inch black frame. It will be supplied with new brass hangers, new brass picture wire and will be ready to hang.
Image size: 15 x 9 5/8 inches - 38cm x 24.5cm
Frame size 20 1/8 x 16 3/4 inches - 51.1cm x 42.55cm:
Medium: Etching with later colouring on paper llaid down on part of another print.
Condition: Very good. The Frame and mounts are new.
Price
Click here to message the seller The price has been listed in British Pounds.
Conversion rates as of 24/APR/2024. Euro & Dollar prices will vary and should only be used as a guide.
Always confirm final price with dealer. Plus shipping cost. Please provide postcode for an at cost quote.
Date Circa 1850
Early Victorian Antiques Material Paper
Origin English
Artist James Gillray
Item code as237a2411
Status For Sale
£245.00 
$304.61
€285.01
$304.61
€285.01
Looking to Buy?
Arrange a final price and delivery details directly with the dealerClick here to message the seller
Conversion rates as of 24/APR/2024. Euro & Dollar prices will vary and should only be used as a guide.
Always confirm final price with dealer. Plus shipping cost. Please provide postcode for an at cost quote.
View all stock from
Studio RT Ltd
Private Art dealerBy appointment only
Kent
England, UK
Tel : 01622 812556
Non UK callers : +44 1622 812556
You may also be interested in
Set of Six 19th Century Framed Etchings
Etching by Ian Fleming "What Is Life"
Signed Etching Of River & cathedral By R. Winter
set of 4 Naval etchings - Rowland Langmaid
Ambroise-Louis Garneray 2 Hand Coloured Aquatints
Frank Greenwood Etching Of Manchester University
Decorative Etchings Of 'Old Manchester'.
Pair Of Original Etchings By Jean Baptiste Guelard
Admiral Lord Nelson Pair Naval Officer Engravings
Herbert Dicksee (1862-1942) 'The King' etching
Herbert Dicksee 'In The Enemy's Country, etching
Set of 4 Signed Gordon House Ltd Edition Etchings