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The giant factotum amusing himself / Js. Gilly. invt. et fect.

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James Gillray
1756-1815

The giant factotum amusing himself / Js. Gilly. invt. et fect.

[London] : Pubd. Jany 21st, 1797, by H. Humphrey, New Bond Street, [1797]
etching, hand colored
image: 336 x 251 mm; plate mark: 355 x 252 mm; sheet: 393 x 285 mm
Bequest of Gordon N. Ray, 1987.
1986.416
Notes
Library's copy annotated in pencil on verso with notes identifying the subjects of Gillray's caricatures.
Provenance

From the library of Gordon N. Ray.

Summary

Print shows the gigantic figure of Pitt bestriding the Speaker's chair and towering above the galleries of the House. He plays spike and ball with the globe, on which 'France' is disproportionately large and the British Isles small and obscure. His head is turned to the left towards his own followers, who crowd obsequiously towards his huge right foot which rests on the head of Wilberforce (papers inscribed 'Slave Trade' issuing from his pocket) and on the shoulder of Dundas, who wears Highland dress. Canning (the 'Trial of Betty Canning' projecting from his pocket) kneels to kiss the toe of his shoe. His left foot crushes the leaders of the Opposition, including Erskine, Sheridan, and Fox, all prostrate with upstretched arms. M.A. Taylor, a tiny figure, with the legs of a chicken and wearing a bonnet-rouge, sprawls on the floor near Fox. The Speaker (Addington) looks up (raising his hat), as do the Clerks. Pitt's coat-pockets bulge like sacks; in one (left) are papers: 'Volunteers, 200000 Seamen, 150000 Regulars, Militia'; the other is stuffed with guineas, on this his left hand rests, holding a paper 'Resources for supporting the War'.

Associated names
Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher.
Ray, Gordon N. (Gordon Norton), 1915-1986, former owner.
Classification
Department