Gillray in Time
This is an attempt to situate Gillray's work in the context of the poitical and artistic events that shaped his era and prompted or influenced his work.
1730s
| Year | Date/Event |
|---|---|
| 1732 | Hogarth's A Harlot's Progress, the model for countless later stories told in prints. Chorus of Singers. |
| 1733 | Hogarth's A Midnight Modern Conversation. The inspiration for many later
prints, including Rowlandson's The Brilliants and Gillray's Union Club The Laughing Audience. Southwark Fair |
| 1735 | Hogarth's A Rake's Progress. Founding of St Martin's Lane Academy. |
| 1736 | Hogarth's The Sleepy Congregation. Before and After. Scholars at a Lecture. |
1740s
| Year | Date/Event |
|---|---|
| 1743 | Arthur Pond publishes A Collection of Early Caricatures Engraved from the Works of Pietro Leone Ghezzi and Others Hogarth responds to Pond's collection by publishing his print Characters and Caricaturas |
| 1745 | Hogarth's Marriage a la Mode. |
1750s
| Year | Date/Event |
|---|---|
| 1751 | Joshua Reynolds creates caricature conversation pieces while in Rome on the Grand Tour, including the large (90 x 108 cm) School of Athens containing ~26 caricature portraits. |
| 1756 | August 13 - James Gillray born in Chelsea. |
| 1757 | George Townshend publishes political satires using caricature portraits, e.g. The Recruiting Sergeant. |
| 1758 | Hogarth responds to Townshend with The Bench, again trying to distinguish character from caricatura. |
1760s
| Year | Date/Event |
|---|---|
| 1760 - 1770 | Thomas Patch pubishes two collections of caricatures: Twenty Eight Caricatures and Twenty-Five Caricatures consisting of portrait caricatures(most often heads) in the style of Ghezzi. He also paints caricature conversation pieces for Englishmen on the Grand Tour, often incorporating the portraits of the same subjects included in the published caricature volumes. |
| 1760 | Paintings and prints by John Collett, carrying on the tradition of Hogarth, and paving the way for Rowlandson. |
| 1761 | Society of Artists founded, including Joshua Reynolds and Francis Hayman, giving artists greater control over exhibitions of their work. |
| 1762 | Mary Darly publishes A Book of Caricaturas, with ye Principles of Designing in ye Droll
and Pleasing Manner helping to popularize caricature. Reynolds exhibits Garrick between Tragedy and Comedy. |
| 1762 | September - Johnny Gillray dies at the Moravian School. |
| 1765 | Gillray's first surviving drawing (a goldfinch). |
| 1764 | October 26. Death of Hogarth. |
| 1765 | Reynolds exhibits Lady Sarah Bunbury Sacrificing to the Graces later parodied by Gillray in La Belle Assemblée. |
| 1767? | Gillray apprenticed to an engraver. |
| 1768 | December 10 - Royal Academy of the Arts founded. |
| 1769 | Bunbury meets Thomas Patch in Italy, a meeting which helped spark Bunbury's interest in caricature. |
1770s
| Year | Date/Event |
|---|---|
| 1770 | First caricatures by Bunbury, mainly portrait caricatures etched by Matthew Darly. |
| 1771 | June - Benjamin West's The Death of Wolfe first
exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts, later caricatured by Gillray. |
| 1771 | Painter Philip James de Loutherbourg comes to England. Gillray later works with him on two projects for large scale paintings of English military and naval victories. |
| 1772 | Zoffany's The Academicians of the Royal Academy, later parodied by Rowlandson and others. |
| 1772 - 1774 | Macaroni prints become all the rage. The Darly's print shop becomes the focus of the craze. |
| 1773 - 1774 | Bunbury starts to make the transition from portrait caricature to the humorous caricature of types, such as Jollux [1773], Snip Francois and Snip Anglois [1773] Damn Bucephalus [1774] and Every Sous Begad [1774] |
| 1774 | Reynolds exhbits three Ladies Adorning a Term of Hymen, later parodied by Gillray in La Belle Assemblée. |
| 1774 - 1775 | Rowlandson visits France. |
| 1775 | First prints attributed to James Gillray |
| 1776 | January - Publication of Thomas Paine's Common Sense. July 4 - America declares its independence from Britain. |
| 1777 | Bunbury creates the paired series: Newmarket. A Shot at a Hawk and Newmarket. A Shot at a Pigeon May 8 - First performance of R.B. Sheridan's School for Scandal. |
| 1778 | Gillray enrolls in the Royal Academy School. Publication of Reynold's Discourses. Military camps set up at Cox Heath and other places. Hannah Humphrey's shop at 18 Old Bond Street. |
| 1779 | February 4 - Death of John Hamilton Mortimer, an early influence on Gillray and Rowlandson. Reynolds completes The Society of Dilettanti later parodied by Rowlandson. |
1780s
| Year | Date/Event |
|---|---|
| 1780 | May –June - Gillray produces first portrait caricatures including Lady
(Mount) Edgcumbe, Lady Cecilia Johnston,the Earl of Hertford, and Lord Amherst. June 2–7 - Gordon Riots Reynolds exhibits his painting of Lady Worsely, who becomes the subject of Gillray's satire in 1782. |
| 1781 | February - Seizure of the Dutch island of St. Eustacius by the British navy under Admiral George Rodney. Bunbury's A Family Piece, a comic caricature, wholly without portraits, making fun of the pretensions of artists and their patrons wishing to create a grand impression. |
| 1782 | February 21 - Crim Con trial of Captain George Bissett and Lady Worseley which inspired
several Gillray prints. March 1 - Bunbury's Richmond Hill, a prototype for many prints by Rowlandson. March 27 - Rockingham becomes Prime Minister. Charles James Fox becomes Foreign Secretary. April 9–12 - Admiral George Rodney wins major naval victory at the Battle of the Saintes, near Dominica in the West Indies. July 1 - Death of Rockingham. Formation of new government under Shelburne. Fuseli's Nightmare exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts. S.W. Fores sets up his caricature shop in Picadilly. |
| 1783 | April - Explosion on the Duke of Athol, East Indiaman. April–December - Fox-North Coalition with Duke of Portland as nominal head. Hannah Humphrey moves her shop to 51 New Bond Street. December 19 - William Pitt becomes Prime Minister. |
| 1783 - 1786 | Rowlandson's great exhibition watercolors, including Place des Victoires (1783), Vauxhall Gardens (1784), Skaters on the Serpentine (1784), The English Review (1786). |
| 1784 | Rowlandson's Tour in a Post Chaise. Reynold's Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse. |
| 1784 - 1785 | Gillray takes an approximately two year break from satiric prints to pursue "serious" art and engraving, producing prints like The Deserted Village (June, 1784), The Nancy Packet (October, 1784), Absence (August, 1784), and The Duke of Athol East Indiaman February 9, 1785). |
| 1785 | December - Secret marriage of the Prince of Wales to Mrs. Fitzherbert. |
| 1786 | February/March - Gillray resumes work in caricature, working for a variety of printsellers, including Holland, Phillips,
Fores, Aitken, and the Humphreys. May - Gillray produces A Sale of English Beauties in the East-Indies, a large print using the full range of his skills as a satirist and engraver. |
| 1788 | January 19 - First of several boxing matches featuring Daniel Mendoza and Richard Humphreys. February 13 - Opening of Warren Hastings' Trial. Summer - King shows signs of serious mental illness. July 31 - First appearance of John Bull as human character in Gillray's prints during the hotly-contested Westminster by-election. |
| 1789 | February - Regency bill passed in the House of Commons, but the King recovers his sanity
before it is put to the vote in the House of Lords. May 4 - Opening of Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery including approximately 34 paintings. July 14 - Fall of the Bastille. |
1790s
| Year | Date/Event |
|---|---|
| 1790 | April–May - Renwick Williams, "The Monster" terrorizes London women with knife attacks. November - Publication of Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France. Hannah Humphrey moves her shop back to 18 Old Bond Street. |
| 1791 | February - Publication of Thomas Paine's The Rights of Man. April - First of numerous parliamentary bills to abolish the slave trade introduced by William Wilberforce. May - Gillray works almost exclusively for Mrs. Humphreys. June 20–21 - French Royal Family flees; apprehended at Varennes. July 14 - Riots in Birmingham against those celebrating the second anniversary of Bastille day. October - The Duke of Clarence's affair with the actress Dorothea Jordan becomes a topic of considerable interest in the newspapers. November 23 - Prince Frederick, second son of George III, officially marries Frederica Charlotte, Princess of Prussia. |
| 1792 | January - Founding of the London Corresponding Society by Thomas Hardy for the reform of
Parliament and the circulation of radical ideas. February - Publication of the second Part of Paine's Rights of Man March - Failed policies against Russia are much discussed in Parliament. Confidence in Pitt is shaken. March 29 - Gustav III of Sweden assassinated. May 21 - Royal Proclamation Against Seditious Writings and Publications announced. Summer - First of a series of Cries of London by Francis Wheatley exhibited at the Royal Academy. November 20 - The Association for Preserving Liberty and Property against Republicans and Levellers founded by John Reeves at the Crown and Anchor tavern. December 15 - the French Assemblee Nationale publishes the Decree for Proclaiming the Liberty and Sovereignty of all Peoples, making clear that the revolution would not be confined to France. |
| 1793 | January 21 - Execution of Louis XVI of France. February 1 - France declares war on England. July 13 - Jean-Paul Marat assassinated by Charlotte Corday. July 25 - Attack on the French at Valenciennes led by the Duke of York. August 30 - Gillray accompanies De Loutherbourg on a sketching trip to Valenciennes in preparation for a painting by De Loutherbourg commemorating the English victory there. August–September - Macartney's embassy to China, later spoofed by Gillray. September 5 and 6 - Gillray visits the camps at Bermeraine and Villerspol to make skteches of the Prince of Saxe-Coburg and General Count Clairfayt respectively for the painting The Grand Attack at Valenciennes. December - The establishment of a permanent Turkish embassy in London arouses interest in all things Turkish. |
| 1794 | May 16 - Habeas Corpus suspended for 8 months. July 28 - Death of Robespierre by guillotine. August - Gillray travels to Portsmouth to make sketches of French and English ships and equipment for another De Loutherbourg painting, The Battle of the First of June. Hannah Humphrey moves her shop to 37 New Bond Street. November 1 - Gillray creates a series of 13 ethnographic prints representing Turkish men and women. |
| 1795 |
January - Batavian Republic proclaimed. William V flees to England. January/February - Suspension of habeas corpus extended until July. March 4 - The arrest of Richard Brothers for sedition. April 8 - Marriage of the Prince of Wales to Caroline of Brunswick. May 6 - Tax on hair powder levied to raise money for the ongoing war against France. June - Habeas Corpus reinstated. July 1 - Investiture of Sir Joseph Bankes as a Knight of the prestigious Order of the Bath. October - Establishment of the French Directory, and soon thereafter the design and description of the standard robes for each office by Jacques-Louis David. October 26 - First of two mass meetings arranged by the London Corresponding Society in the field behind Copenhagen House in Islington. October 29 - King's carriage attacked by a mob. November 12 - Second meeting arranged by the London Corresponding Society in the field behind Copenhagen House in Islington. November–December - Passage of Treasonable Practices and Seditious Meetings Acts. |
| 1796 |
May 14 - Edward Jenner performs the first vaccination against the cowpox. September(?) - Hollandia Regenerata published in England. December - Attempted invasion of Ireland by a French Armada. |
| 1797 | Hannah Humphrey moves her shop to its final location at 27 St. James's Street. February 22—24 - Another attempted invasion of Britain in Fishguard. February 28 - Bank Restriction Act which relieved the Bank of England from having to convert bank notes to Gold. March 8 - Death of Gillray's mother. April - Anti-Jacobin, or Weekly Examiner founded by George Canning and William Gifford. May 1 - Marriage of the Earl of Derby to the actress, Elizabeth Farren. May 18 - Marriage of the Princess Royal to the Hereditary Prince of Wurtemberg. September 19 - Death of French General, Louis Lazare Hoche. November - Gillray receives stipend from Pitt's government through Canning and Sneyd. |
| 1798 | Spring - Gillray takes up residence above Hannah Humphrey's print shop. May 21 - Trial of Arthur O'Connor at Maidstone for attempting to coordinate a French invasion of Ireland to coincide with the Irish rebellion. May 28 - Beginning of Irish Rebellion of 1798 July 2 - Beginning of Napoleon's Egyptian campaign with victory in Alexandria. July 21 - Battle of the Pyramids August 1–3 - Nelson's victory at the Battle of the Nile. August 21 - Report of the Committee of Secrecy of the House of Commons in Ireland including Arthur O'Connor's confession of collusion with the French government. |
| 1799 | January - Beginning of the first British income tax, used to support the war against France. March - Death of Gillray's father. May 21 - Defeat of Napoleon's attempt to capture Acre August 27 - Beginning of the Anglo-Russian attempt to re-establish Orangist control of the Netherlands. November 9-10 - Napoleon disbands the Directory and establishes the Consulate. London Corresponding Society is suppressed with the passage of the Unlawful Societies Act 0f 1799. |
1800s
| Year | Date/Event |
|---|---|
| 1800 | January 1 - Acts of Union passed creating the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland. May 15 - Assassination attempts on George III in Hyde Park and at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. |
| 1801 | February 16 - Pitt resigns over the issue of Catholic emancipation. March 17 - Addington becomes Prime Minister. Likely suspension of Gillray's stipend from the givernment |
| 1802 | March 27 - Treaty of Amiens ending the War of the Second Coalition and
establishing a (temporary) peace between France and England. Foundation of Cobbett's Weekly Political Register |
| 1803 | May - England redeclares war on France ending the Peace of Amiens. |
| 1804 | May 10 - Pitt returns as Prime Minister succeeding Henry Addington. May 18 - Naploeon declares himself Emperor. December 2 - Official coronation of Napoleon. |
| 1805 | October 21 - Death of Horatio Nelson at Trafalgar. |
| 1806 | January 23 - Death of William Pitt. February - Formation of the "Ministry of all Talents." February 11 - William Wyndham Grenville (cousin of Pitt) becomes Prime Minister. September 13 - Death of Charles James Fox. |
| 1807 | March 31 - Demise of "Ministry of all Talents." Formation of 2nd Portland Ministry |
| 1809 | January - Inquiry into Duke of York's relationship with Mrs. Clarke. |
1810s
| Year | Date/Event |
|---|
| 1810 | Rowlandson's Tour of Dr. Syntax November 8 - Last print certainly completed by Gillray. |
| 1811 | February 5 - Regency Bill passed, making the Prince of Wales Regent in place of King George III. |
| 1815 | Rowlandson's Dance of Death series. June 1 - Death of James Gillray, aged 58. |
Legacy
| Year | Date/Event |
|---|---|
| 1818 | February 15 - Death of Hannah Humphrey. Spring - John Miller begins serial publication of The Caricatures of Gillray copied in reduced versions and etched by another hand. |
| 1827 | April 6 - Thomas McLean issues a Prospectus for the serial publication of Gillray's caricatures from the orginal plates. Intended to appear in parts every fortnight and include six or seven prints each. Only nine parts were published. |
| 1830 | Thomas McLean publishes The Genuine Works of James Gillray, Engraved by Himself in two volumes, based on the original plates. (584 plates) |
| 1831 | June 14 - Death of George Humphrey |
| 1835 | "Retirement" of Mrs. George Humphrey from the business. July 13-16 - Auction by Messrs E. Foster and Son of Gillray's drawings, prints, and 460 of his copper plates as well as 300 other plates. July/August? - Mrs. Humphrey offers the plates to Henry G. Bohn for £800. |
| 1851 | April - An Historical and Descriptive Account of the Works of JAMES GILLRAY, comprising a Political and Humorous History of the latter part of the Reign of George III. by Thomas Wright and R. H. Evans. The Works of James Gillray from the Original Plates 582 Plates + 45 Suppressed Plates |
| 1873 | The Works of James Gillray, the Caricaturist with the Story of his Life and Times by Thomas Wright and Joseph Grego |