 |
|
|
|
|
GILLRAY, James (1756-1815)
Lieut. Goverr. Gall-Stone, inspired by Alecto; or The Birth of Minerva
London: H. Humphrey, 15 February 1790. Hand-coloured etching and aquatint. Image size (including text): 19 3/8 x 15 1/8 inches. Sheet size: 21 3/4 x 16 3/16 inches.
One of Gillray's great images: a vituperative attack on the soldier and writer Philip Thicknesse
Philip Thicknesse was a general writer of some ability who produced a good number of books and pamphlets between about 1763 and, shortly before his death, 1793. He also served in the military (including 1753-1766 as Lieutenant-Governor of Landguard Fort in Suffolk), and, according to him, discovered the genius of Thomas Gainsborough. Contemporary opinions on Thicknesse were strongly divided: 'a man of probity and honour, whose heart and purse were always open to the unfortunate' (John Nichols in his Literary Anecdotes ), whilst Fulcher noted that Thicknesse 'had in a remarkable degree the faculty of lessening the number of his friends and increasing the number of his enemies. He was perpetually imagining insult, and would sniff an injury from afar.' It is clear from this print that Gillray was no friend of the subject: it is dedicated to a long list of Thicknesse's enemies, including in particular Lord Thurlow, the Earls of Camden, Bute, Bathurst, and Coventry, and Thicknesse's own sons: Baron Audley and Philip Thicknesse jnr. The image shows Minerva bursting from Thicknesse's head, on her shield are inscribed a damning list of Thicknesse's "Acts of Courage & Wisdom": "Running away" from his "Command in Jamaica", extorting money, refusing to fight after insulting Lord Orwell, "debauching " his own niece, horsewhipping his daughter to death (!) Gillray, in typical fashion, includes every vicious rumour about his victim but the events in Thicknesse's life, as recorded in the Dictionary of National Biography, do support the view that he was at best difficult to get on with, and his own autobiography (Memoirs and Anecdotes of Philip Thicknesse, late Lieutenant-Governor of Landguard Fort, and unfortunately father to George Touchet, Baron Audley ) demonstrate his ability to hold a grudge!
George Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires ... in the British Museum 7721; T. M'Lean Illustrative Descriptions of the genuine Works of Mr. James Gillray (Londoon: 1830) pp.12-14; ; Wright & Evans 50
|
#20091 $7,500.00 
|
© 2002-2005 Donald A. Heald
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
