James Gillray

"Dilettanti-Theatricals - or - a Peep at the Green Room - Vide. Pic-Nic-Orgies"

Handcolored 19th century engraving by C. Starcke after the original by James Gillray from the German publication London and Paris circa 1803.

 

This print satirizes the Pic-Nic Society, founded in 1802 by Lady Buckinghamshire (the former Mrs. Hobart) and Lt. Col. Henry Francis Greville. The group brought together amateur actors for pot-luck suppers and “theatricals."

 

Gillray shows the group in their green room preparing to go onstage in roles for which they are particularly unsuited.

 

 

James Gillray (1756-1815) was the leading English caricaturist of his time. After studying at the Royal Academy under Francesco Bartolozzi he attempted to set himself up as a portrait painter but was unable to earn a living at it and turned to producing engravings to support himself.

James Gillray was a conservative - a supporter of William Pitt and the Tories, and his engravings were critical of the Whigs and of the Radicals.

Gillray's work was recently the subject of an exhbitition at London's Tate Gallery.

 

London and Paris was a German publication which circulated the top caricatures of its time. Most of the re-engravings were done in the same year as the originals - in a slightly reduced format - and contributed to the fame of such artists as Gillray and Rowlandson throughout Europe.

 

Dimensions: 27 X 40 cm

Condition: Five vertical creases and one horizontal crease. Spotting and toning as shown. A striking image, with nothing to distract from the overall effect.