Not currently on display at the V&A

James Gillray : The Suppressed Plates

Print
1791-2 (first published), ca. 1850 (printed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Two plates from an album containing 45 numbered prints on wove paper, the majority printed two per page, recto only. Numbered 21 and 22 respectively, number 21 depicts Charles Cornwallis, mounted on a mule wearing a nose-bag, retreating in horror from a fortress. Behind the battlements of the fortress stands the figure of Tipu Sultan, brandishing a sabre, and urinating with extreme force and gusto onto a group of fleeing British soldiers. Two cannon fire at the British from loopholes just in front of Tipu Sultan. Cornwallis wears a Garter star and gallops from the scene, dropping his sabre and hat. Lettered with title, a long caption, and the original publisher's name, date, and address.

The second print on the same page is entitled 'Taking Physick' and depicts the King and Queen sitting side by side on a double lavatory. Above them is the royal coat of arms, depicting the lion looking down at them and excreting. William Pitt has burst into the room with some urgency to show them a paper inscribed 'News from Sweden', with the headline 'Another Monarch done over!' in reference to the shooting of Gustavus III of Sweden, shot in an assassination attempt in the Stockholm Opera House on 16th March, 1792. He died two weeks later and the staggered news reached London on 5th April and 13th April respectively. Lettered with title, captions, and original publisher's name and address.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Titles
  • James Gillray : The Suppressed Plates (popular title)
  • The Coming-On of the Monsoons;-or-the Retreat from Seringapatam (assigned by artist)
  • Taking Physick:-or-the News of Shooting the King of Sweden! (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Engravings on wove paper
Brief description
Two plates from an album of 40 'suppressed' caricatures featuring sexual, scatalogical and politically outrageous subject matter by James Gillray (1756-1815). Issued mid-19th century.
Physical description
Two plates from an album containing 45 numbered prints on wove paper, the majority printed two per page, recto only. Numbered 21 and 22 respectively, number 21 depicts Charles Cornwallis, mounted on a mule wearing a nose-bag, retreating in horror from a fortress. Behind the battlements of the fortress stands the figure of Tipu Sultan, brandishing a sabre, and urinating with extreme force and gusto onto a group of fleeing British soldiers. Two cannon fire at the British from loopholes just in front of Tipu Sultan. Cornwallis wears a Garter star and gallops from the scene, dropping his sabre and hat. Lettered with title, a long caption, and the original publisher's name, date, and address.

The second print on the same page is entitled 'Taking Physick' and depicts the King and Queen sitting side by side on a double lavatory. Above them is the royal coat of arms, depicting the lion looking down at them and excreting. William Pitt has burst into the room with some urgency to show them a paper inscribed 'News from Sweden', with the headline 'Another Monarch done over!' in reference to the shooting of Gustavus III of Sweden, shot in an assassination attempt in the Stockholm Opera House on 16th March, 1792. He died two weeks later and the staggered news reached London on 5th April and 13th April respectively. Lettered with title, captions, and original publisher's name and address.
Dimensions
  • Height: 63.5cm
  • Sheet width: 48.3cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • Pubd. Dec 6th, 1791, by H. Humphrey, No. 18 Old Bond Street (Lettered underneath plate 21)
  • Pubd. April 11th, 1792, by H. Humphrey, No. 18 Old Bond Street (Lettered underneath plate 22)
Credit line
Gift from the Ministry of Justice
Object history
A satire on the retreat of Cornwallis from Seringapatam (see also 'Rare News from India, or, Things Going On Swimmingly in the East' by W. Dent, 1791), Cornwallis's letter of 16th May to Sir Charles Oakeley (Cornwallis Correspondence ii. 91), published in The Gazette, appears to be satirized in the quotation from Henry IV, Part I, ii. 4.
Subjects depicted
Bibliographic reference
Collection
Accession number
E.685:13-2014

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Record createdOctober 24, 2014
Record URL
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