Throughout most of the 1700s and early 1800s, satirical prints were wildly popular in England. Artists created scathing satires of politicians and society that were engraved on copper plates and published in editions of hundreds and sometimes thousands of copies. Gentlemen, noble lords and even royalty formed large collections of prints and brought them out for their guests. King George IV, when he was Prince of Wales, collected hundreds of them. Print collections were preserved in portfolios and bound volumes.

During this time, the Italian term caricatura — which means to load or charge — was adopted in England and Anglicized into the word we use today: caricature. London printshops and booksellers used caricature to define a genre that included virtually any print with a satirical or humorous theme.

Very Slippy Weather

James Gillray
Copperplate Engraving
February 10, 1808, 10″ w x 14″ h

In response to popular demand, Caricature Shops opened and displayed the prints in their storefront windows. Crowds of customers — as well as people who couldn’t afford to buy prints — jammed the sidewalks to see new works by James Gillray, Isaac Cruikshank, Thomas Rowlandson, Henry Bunbury, and others. Politically knowledgeable viewers could be heard explaining subtle details in the prints. Some of these shops hired out folios of caricatures for the evening.

Caricaturists became international celebrities. In the early 1800s, one observer described the anticipation which surrounded the release of a new print by James Gillray:

Caricaturists were also despised, prosecuted, sought after and sometimes secretly hired by men in high places. Some politicians hoped they would become the subject of a caricature since it was a sign that they had reached a position of fame and influence.

There were occasions when entire print runs were purchased to suppress the distribution of objectionable caricatures.

One account tells of Lord Pitt sending a team of a half-dozen people to all the caricature shops in London to purchase at any price all existing copies of a print depicting Prime Minister Addington in a curious encounter with Queen Elizabeth and George III.

Today, these prints exist as one of the only visual forms to document the historical events of the day, the moods of the public, and the fashions of clothing. Caricatures were a powerful form of commentary and propaganda. They are the ancestors of today’s comics.

In Very Slippy Weather, James Gillray depicts the shop of Hannah Humphrey who published his most famous works. The windows are filled with prints Gillray created throughout his career.

Click here to see more caricatures by James Gillray.

David Donihue, GreatCaricatures.com