English Caricaturists and Graphic Humourists of the Nineteenth Century. Graham Everitt

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СКАЧАТЬ and mill, The rude bridge, and the figures—whatever you will— Are as black as the spots on your ermine. It is true, none the less, that a dark looking scrap, With a sort of Blackheath and Black Forest, mayhap, Is considered as rather Rembrandty; And that very black cattle and very black sheep, A black dog, and a shepherd as black as a sweep, Are the pets of some great dilettante. ***** But before your own picture arrives at that pitch, While the lights are still light, and the shadows, though rich. More transparent than ebony shutters, Never minding what Black-Arted critics may say, Stop the biting, and pour the green blind away, As you please, into bottles or gutters. Then removing the ground and the wax at a heat, Cleanse the surface with oil, spermaceti or sweet— For your hand a performance scarce proper— So some careful professional person secure, For the laundress will not be a safe amateur, To assist you in cleaning the copper. ***** Thus your etching complete, it remains but to hint That with certain assistance from paper and print, Which the proper mechanic will settle, You may charm all your friends—without any sad tale Of such perils and ills as beset Lady Sale— With a fine India Proof of your metal.”8

Woodward, engr. by Rowlandson.] [“Desire,” Jan. 20th, 1800. DESIRE.	W. H. Bunbury.] [“Strephon and Chloe,” July 1st, 1804. SENTIMENTAL COURTSHIP.

W. H. Bunbury.] [“The Salutation Tavern,” July 21st, 1801. A FASHIONABLE SALUTATION.	G. M. Woodward.] [“General Complaint,” May 5th, 1796. “Don’t tell me of generals raised from mere boys, Though, believe me, I mean not their laurel to taint; But the general, I’m sure, that will make the most noise, If the war still goes on, will be General Complaint.” [Face p. 11.

1

“Nor London singly can his porter boast, Alike ’tis famed on every foreign coast; For this the Frenchman leaves his Bordeaux wine, And pours libations at our Thames’s shrine; Afric retails it ‘mongst her swarthy sons, And haughty Spain procures it for her Dons. Wherever Britain’s powerful flag has flown, there London’s celebrated porter’s known.”

      —The Art of Living in London (6th edition 1805).

2 One quotation shall suffice. Mr. William Bates tells us in his admirable “Maclise Portrait Gallery”:—“He never transgressed the narrow line that separates wit from buffoonery, pandered to sensuality, glorified vice or raised a laugh at the expense of decency. Satire never in his hands degenerated into savagery or scurrility. A moral purpose ever underlaid his humour; he sought to instruct or improve when he amused.” Mr. Bates will, we hope, pardon us if we say that this is not quite the fact. George Cruikshank in truth was no better or worse than his satirical brothers, and his tone necessarily improved from the moment he took to illustrating books.

3 Since the above was written, strange to say, caricature appears to be showing symptoms of revival.

4 “The Fine Arts,” by William Hazlett, p. 29.

5 “Critical and Historical Essays,” vol. iii., p. 574.

6 We can scarcely call the wonderful series of historical cartoons which he executed at sixteen caricatures, even in the modern sense of the word. Whatever humour they possess is neutralized by the grim irony which, even at this early period, characterized his work.

7 “Etching and Etchers,” by Philip Gilbert Hamerton, third edition, p. 246.

8 Thomas Hood’s “Etching Moralized,” in New Monthly Magazine, 1843, vol. lxvii. p. 4, and seq.

CHAPTER II.

       Table of Contents

      MISCELLANEOUS CARICATURES AND SUBJECTS OF CARICATURE, 1800-1811.

      Although Gillray began his work in 1769,—thirty years before Proposed method Of Arrangement. our century commenced, and Rowlandson five years later on, in 1774, their labours were continued some years after 1799, and are so interwoven, so to speak, with the work of their immediate successors, that it is almost impossible in a work dealing with nineteenth century caricaturists to omit all mention of them. In collecting too materials for the present treatise, we necessarily met with many anonymous satires, without signature, initials, or distinguishing style, which may be, and some of which are probably due to artists whose pencils were at work before the century began. Even if equal in all cases to the task of assigning these satires to the particular hands which designed and executed them, we submit that little real service would be rendered to the cause of graphic satire. It appears to us therefore that the most convenient method will be to indicate in this and the following chapters some of the leading topics of caricature during the first thirty years of the century, and to cite in illustration of our subject such of the work of anonymous or other artists, for which no better place can be assigned in other divisions of the work.

James Gillray. [June 20th, 1789. SHAKSPEARE SACRIFICED, OR THE OFFERING TO AVARICE. Alderman Boydell, as High Priest within the magic circle, preparing an oblation to Shakspeare; the demon of Avarice, seated upon the List of Subscribers, hugging his money-bags; Puck on his shoulders blowing bubbles of “immortality” to the promoter of the “Gallery” about to be published. Shakespeare himself, obscured by the Aldermanic fumes. Figures of Shakspearean characters above. [Face p. 12.

      The attention of the public during the first fifteen years of the century was mainly directed to the progress and fortunes of the great national enemy, Napoleon Bonaparte. The hatred with which he was regarded in this country can scarcely be appreciated in these days; and in order that the СКАЧАТЬ