BOOKS, MAPS & PRINTS
POLITICAL CARTOONS
Left: James Gillray’s The Plumbpudding in danger, published
February 18, 1805, remains a classic
commentary on the arrogance of
power, with Pitt and Napoleon
carving up the globe between them.
Sold for £15,000 at Bloomsbury.
Georgian satire: the shock of the old
Jasper Jennings explains why the genius of Gillray and his contemporaries still appeals
IN THE 21ST CENTURY WE HAVE SEEN SOME
STARK REMINDERS OF THE POWER OF
CARTOONS. JUST IMAGINE THEIR IMPACT IN A
LESS LITERATE AGE TWO CENTURIES AGO.
The early 1780s witnessed the emergence of
the professional caricaturist and the satirical
print as a force in urban culture. It was a
uniquely British phenomenon as only in Britain
did the necessary conditions – freedom of
expression, party politics, and a receptive
market – combine.
The years between the loss of the American
colonies and George IV’s death in 1830 were
the golden age for single-sheet political
caricatures – bracketing the careers of two
giants of the genre, James Gillray (1756-1815)
and Thomas Rowlandson (1757-1827). Both
were brilliant draughtsmen, hugely inventive
and with a rapier wit.
The legacy of Gillray’s work in particular – the
subject of exhibitions last year at the Ashmolean
in Oxford and London’s Cartoon Museum
marking 200 years of his death – inspired
the likes of Goya and David and continues to
influence satirical cartoonists all over the world.
Then, as now, there were rich pickings for
ridicule. In Parliament, Tory Pitt battled for
supremacy with Fox, Burke, and Sheridan for
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the Whigs. In the palace, George III’s madness
was public knowledge as were George IV’s
various affairs, extravagant lifestyle and political
meddling. Domestic issues such as Catholic
Emancipation and political reform weighed
heavily – and all in the shadow of the French
Revolution.
The brilliance of the genre was its ability to
quickly crystallise topical events or ideas in the
language of the street as well as the drawing
room. The core technique was copper plate
etching, a fast, fluid medium that allowed a
response to events within days. Cartoons could
then be printed in small runs of 500 copies or
less to be sold for a few shillings each (more for
those in colour) from the premises of specialist
print sellers.
Although beyond the pocket of the working
man, a salacious print displayed in a shop
window – or pinned to the wall of a coffee shop
or tavern – was guaranteed to attract a crowd.
It is no surprise that some authors preferred
to keep some of their more challenging work
anonymous.
The vitriol and vulgarity of Georgian imagery
– that largely disappeared with the arrival of
prim and proper Victorian sensibilities – still has
the power to amuse, engage and even shock
today. In an otherwise soft market for 18th and
Above: one from a lot of seven caricatures by Theodore
Lane (1800-28), another who died young. They satirise
the ‘affairs’ of Queen Caroline, soon to be divorced from
George IV. The Q(uee)n’s Ass in a Band-box ridicules
the queen, her supporter Sir Matthew Wood (the ‘Ass’)
and her alleged lover, Bartolommeo Bergami (who has
inscribed the inside of the lid of the box). Sold for £300 at
Bloomsbury in February 2016.
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Above: William Combe’s The Tour of
Doctor Syntax in search of the picturesque,
published in 1812 with accompanying
aquatints by Thomas Rowlandson, satirises
the aesthetic ideals lying behind the
picturesque and its frequently pompous
followers. This rare and unusually complete
parlour game in a slide-lid box c.1830 took
an unexpected £2950 at Lawrences of
Crewkerne on February 5.
Right: Richard Newton (1777-98) was a talent that
burned brightly all too briefly. He began work at 14 and
was dead at 21 but was responsible for around 300
prints which command strong prices when they appear
on the market. His graphic simplicity still strikes a chord.
Pictured here are An Old Grudge, 1794, in which the
devil and a parson verbally spar, and The Blue Devils,
1795, a miserable invalid surrounded by little dancing
demons. They sold together for £650 at the June 2015
Bloomsbury sale.
19th century prints, there is a strong following
for political caricatures on both Englishspeaking sides of the Atlantic.
Prices have risen consistently since the 1980s
when Georgian cartoons, still stuck in the limbo
between political history and art history, might
cost £30-50 each or £200 for a popular image.
A subtle change in the way they were sold at
auction – introduced shortly after the influential
Gillray exhibition at the Tate Gallery in 2001 –
certainly impacted prices. The move from job
lots and albums to properly catalogued single
items allowed collectors, connoisseurs and
institutions to compete in a forum previously
dominated by bulk-buying dealers.
Previously there were few easily available
price levels with which to make comparisons.
Now there are many.
According to specialist London dealer
Andrew Edmunds, the two decades since
the advent of ‘single’ satire sales have seen
retail prices in the saleroom. Some lots lightly
regarded by connoisseurs have achieved
extraordinary prices, he says.
If there is a hierarchy of caricature artists
– a list that alongside Gillray and Rowlandson
includes George Cruikshank, George Moutard
Woodward, William Heath, Henry William
Bunbury and Richard Newton – then some
“The brilliance of the medium was its ability to quickly
crystallise topical events or ideas in the language of the
street as well as the drawing room”
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subjects and some impressions are more
popular than others.
Bloomsbury Auctions’ specialist Robert Hall
observes that collectors favour the Fox-Pitt and
the Napoleonic eras above all – enjoying the
depth, symbolism and range of references the
best satirical cartoons have to offer.
Social satires, the mainstay for many
publishers of the time, are less popular and Hall
observes a noticeable drop in prices for prints
post-dating 1815. It seems Napoleon still exerts
a powerful hold on the British psyche.
The most desirable impressions are those
printed closest to the date indicated in the
publisher’s imprint – clues can be found in the
paper, lettering and other markings (or absence
thereof) – and those that survive in original
condition. Many prints were later coloured and
trimmed for framing or pasting into albums.
This impacts value, though the most desirable
images are saleable even if not in ‘tip top’
condition. As ever, there is no substitute for
experience or for the eye of a reputable dealer.
During the 20th century at least, modern-day
cartoonists and politicians were a key part of
the collecting base – among them Lord Baker of
Dorking, better known to most as former home
secretary Kenneth Baker.
He was a long-time buyer of Napoleonic
cartoons before this part of his collection was
sold by Bloomsbury in June 2015.
Works by Gillray, accounted for 12 of
the 25 top prices achieved, his star quality
demonstrated by the remarkable £15,000 bid
for a copy of the 1805 commentary on power
and greed, The Plumb-pudding in danger.
More than two centuries after these prints
were made, it seems the themes of sleaze, the
vanity and avarice of politicians and royalty, and
the running commentary on the British national
character, still resonate. Now why could that
possibly be?
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BOOKS, MAPS & PRINTS
Photograph: Andrew Edmunds Gallery
POLITICAL CARTOONS
Above: inside the Andrew Edmunds Gallery, Lexington Steet, London.
GEORGIAN SATIRES:
A DEALER’S VIEW
Andrew Edmunds Gallery in London’s Soho represents a corner
of Georgian London where saucy royal mistresses still mix with
elegantly attired dandies. Edmunds has specialised in 18th
and 19th century satires for more than three decades and is
considered an authority on the subject.
He has lent prints and drawings in this genre to major museum
exhibitions – as well as hosting major selling events such as the
Gillray display at Frieze Masters last autumn (when more than half
of the offering was sold).
With Lord Baker no longer actively buying, he has no current
collectors who are MPs but he identifies royalty and Napoleon
as popular themes. Outside the big names – increasingly hard
to purchase at auction – he rates the best examples of Richard
Newton’s work highly, and in the 1820s, puts Theodore Lane on a
level with George Cruikshank.
Like all dealers he is always on the look-out for prints pasted
into old scrap albums because (while margins are sometimes
trimmed) here the original colour is preserved. Otherwise, in the
knowledge that most 18th century prints were originally sold
‘plain’ with hand colouring available for twice the price, he would
prefer to own a good uncoloured impression than a print with
modern colour.
He will be exhibiting at the London Original Print Fair at the Royal
Academy May 5-8.
n andrewedmundsprints.com
Above: Fighting for the Dunghill - or Jack Tar settling Citoyen Francois, 1798
etching, aquatint and engraving by Gillray, with publisher’s watercolour. In this
first state print issued following Nelson’s victory at the Nile, the plucky British
sailor ‘Jack Tar’ lands a blow against the French menace. Priced at £3000 from
Andrew Edmunds.
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