A Great Stream from a Petty Fountain – or – John Bull Swamped in the Flood of New Taxes – Cormorants Fishing in the Stream

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

James Gillray was a draughtsman, etcher and engraver of caricatures. He studied at the Royal Academy Schools and learned the technique of stipple engraving from William Wynne Ryland and Francesco Bartolozzi. Gillray produced several notable plates in this medium to his own designs and after paintings by Northcote, while simultaneously establishing himself as a caricaturist. By the end of 1791, all his caricatures were published by Mrs Hannah Humphrey, with whom he lived for the rest of his life. In 1807, his eyesight began to deteriorate and in the same year he had a nervous breakdown. He died at his home in Westminster, aged 58.

People

Henry, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne Petty-Fitzmaurice (1780 - 1863)

Places

Subjects

rowing boat, satire, fish, pelican, cormorant, Baron, Marquess, Viscount, John Bull, cartoon, fountain, oar

Materials & Techniques

etching, coloured etching

Artist

James Gillray (1756 - 1815)

Title

A Great Stream from a Petty Fountain – or – John Bull Swamped in the Flood of New Taxes – Cormorants Fishing in the Stream

Date

9 May 1806

Medium

Coloured etching

Dimensions

height: 25.00 cm, width: 36.20 cm

Acquisition

Transferred from HM Revenue and Customs, December 2012

Provenance

Acquired by the Inland Revenue, Somerset House, 1948; recorded by GAC 1955; transferred to GAC 2012

GAC number

3229