Currently not on view
Political Mathematicians Shaking the Broad Bottom'd Hemispheres,
published January 9, 1807
James Gillray, British, 1757–1815
Published by Hannah Humphrey, British, 1745–1818
Published by Hannah Humphrey, British, 1745–1818
x1962-27
Here, Gillray alluded to a "broad bottom" coalition formed between Charles James Fox, a prominent Whig statesman from the House of Commons, and Lord North, the Tory prime minister who led Great Britain through the American War of Independence. The Treaty of Paris, which formally ended the American Revolution, was signed in 1783 by this coalition government. An eager Napoleon can be seen in the distance, watching the commotion from Europe.
Information
Title
Political Mathematicians Shaking the Broad Bottom'd Hemispheres
Dates
published January 9, 1807
Maker
Medium
Hand-colored engraving
Dimensions
plate (sheet trimmed to plate): 34.5 × 46 cm (13 9/16 × 18 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Hugh Trumbull Adams, Class of 1935
Object Number
x1962-27
Place Made
Europe, England, London
Inscription
Printed above plate, center: Publish’ed Jany 9th 1807 by H. Humphrey 27 St. James’s Street.
Printed below plate, from left to right: Js Gillray des & ft — Political Mathematician’s [sic], Shaking the Broadbottom’d [sic] Hemispheres: — {“— Mr. Paull is fixed upon a Rock, and be assured he will prove the Fulcrum / by means of which the present Broadbottomites will be Overset.” – Sir F. Burdetti Speech
Numerous inscriptions made in plate throughout the plate, often identifying the subjects
Reference Numbers
Grego 343-4
Type
Techniques
Subject
- Thomas Wright and R.H. Evans, Historical and descriptive account of the caricatures of James Gillray: comprising a political and humorous history of the latter part of the reign of George the Third (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1851). , no. 336
-
Thomas Wright, ed., The works of James Gillray, the caricaturist: with the story of his life and times (London: Chatto and Windus, Publishers, 1873).
, pp. 343–344 (illus.) - "Recent acquisitions," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 22, no. 1 (1963): p. 15-19., p. 15
- Frederic George Stephens, M. Dorothy George, and The British Museum, Catalogue of political and personal satires preserved in the department of prints and drawings in the British Museum (London: Published for the Trustees of the British Museum by British Museum Publications, 1978). , no. 10697
