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Description: | The Fitzwilliam Museum holds satirical prints from both England and France, picturing humourous and political stereotypes based on the ancient rivalry between the two countries.
The vast majority of the English satires are Gillray caricatures given in 1948 by Lady Violet Beaumont. Before then the Museum had an album of Hogarth prints from the Founder's bequest, and a selection that came with the Marlay bequest in 1912. In more recent years the collection has been enlarged with the Reitlinger bequest in 1991, and with a gift from Michael Jaye in 2002 of satires dating from the French Revolution, some of which are particularly rare.
The collection of French satires is smaller, and came from the Marlay bequest in 1912. The caricatures are among 760 prints that were pasted into three albums in the early 20th century. The set is a miscellany of portrait engravings, fashion plates, and caricatures (including early Gillray states) ranging from the 17th to 19th centuries. The prints from the series Desiné après Nature aux Environs de Londres (nos.31-36) were bound together, to be purchased as a mini booklet in London before being bound into the album. The print 'Uniformes Anglais', (bought from Andrew Edmunds in 2006) comes from the collection of Louis Philippe, and is thought to have been purchased in London when he was in exile.
The prints are created using a range of techniques including etching, engraving, aquatint, Lithography and hand-colouring. The majority date from between 1720 and 1815. | Subjects: | Humour Lithographs Engravings English (cultural identity) Satire Napoleonic Wars (1800-1815) Cartoons French Revolution (1789-1799) Caricatures Prints | Source: | Cornucopia - Discovering UK Collections | FAX: | 01223 332 923 | Telephone: | 01223 332 900 | Identifier: | oai:www.cornucopia.org.uk:8341 | Go to resource |
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