Light expelling darkness, evaporation of Stygian exhalations, or, The sun of the Constitution rising superior to the clouds of Opposition [graphic] / James Gillray des. et fect.

Creator:

Gillray, James, 1756-1815, printmaker.

Copyright Date:

[30 April 1795]

Physical Description:

1 print : etching & engraving on wove paper, hand-colored ; plate mark 34.7 x 44.8 cm

Notes:

Title etched below image.
Sheet trimmed leaving thread margins.
CtY-LW
Temporary local subject terms: Vehicles: Roman chariot -- Emblems : British Lion -- Emblems: the Horse of Hanover -- Symbols: figure of Justice -- Flags: British flag -- French republican flag -- Symbols: bonnet rouge -- Reference to Magna Charta -- Reference to George III and George IV -- Britannia -- Royal arms -- Reference to the Brunswick succession -- Reference to Bible -- Whig Club -- Monsters -- Sansculottes -- Reference to Jacobins -- Weapons: daggers -- Cherubs -- Sun of the Constitution -- Reference to the Parliament.

Abstract:

"Pitt as, a Roman charioteer, wearing a laurel wreath, is seated in an ornate chariot drawn (left to right) by the British Lion and the White Horse of Hanover (cf. BMSat 8691). He holds the reins, but scarcely controls the galloping pair. One foot rests on a shield bearing a fanged serpent, and wreathed with serpents, inscribed: 'Exit Python Republicanus'. Behind him is a book decorated with a lyre inscribed 'Magna Charta'. Ornate projections from the back of the chariot support the disk of the 'Sun of the Constitution': the Hebrew letters for Jehovah are surrounded by the words COMMONS . KING . LORDS; this is irradiated, the royal arms being etched partly on the sun, partly on its rays, and immediately behind Pitt. Two cherubs fly behind the chariot and on the extreme left; one holds up a 'Bible', the other a family tree of the 'Brunswick Succession': from the base, inscribed 'Ge III', rises 'G IV', from whose circle sprout five stems; beneath is inscribed: 'And future Kings, and Monarchs yet unborn'. A fringed cloth on the back of the horse is covered by the royal arms; one on the lion has Britannia, seated as on coins, but holding up a dagger in one hand, a birch-rod in the other. Both animals dash furiously forward in pursuit of the Opposition. The horse snorts fire; from his forehead thunderbolts dart towards the fugitives. The chariot is on an ascending slope of smooth cloud, lit by the 'Sun of the Constitution' (cf. BMSat 8287, &c.) and strewn with roses which fall from the draperies of Justice, who floats before the chariot, leading it on, her head surrounded by a scroll inscribed 'Honorable Peace, or Everlasting War'. In her left hand she holds up her balanced scales, in her right she grasps a flag-staff on which the British flag floats above a tattered tricolour pennant, inscribed 'Republic'. From under the dark and turbulent edges of the cloud-path the Opposition flee into the void. On the extreme left is the half length figure of a monstrous hag, her hair composed of serpents spitting fire, with a fillet inscribed 'The Whig Club'. In her right hand she holds one of the serpents which issue from her pendent breasts, in the left is an almost extinguished firebrand. She glares up in impotent rage. Beneath the horse and lion (right) are the heads and shoulders of (left to right) Sheridan, Fox, and Stanhope, their hair streaming behind them; each drops a dagger from his raised right hand. Sheridan and Fox have expressions of gloomy terror, Stanhope is melancholy but composed. In the abyss beneath the clouds are three small winged creatures: an owl (left) with the head of Lansdowne, two bats, one with the head of M. A. Taylor, the other (right) with that of Erskine. In their flight they have left behind them on the path of cloud three papers: 'Plan for inflaming the Dissenters in Scotland'; 'A scheme for raising the Catholicks in Ireland' (cf. BMSat 8632); 'Jacobin Prophecies for breeding Sedition in England' (an allusion to Brothers, see BMSat 8627, &c). A second group flees upwards away from the thunderbolts of the Hanoverian horse; from the head of each falls a bonnet-rouge whose peak terminates in a (fool's) bell (cf. BMSat 9374). They are Lauderdale, with clasped hands, the Duke of Norfolk looking round apprehensively, above him the Duke of Grafton, and above again Lord Derby. [Lord Holland gives alternative identifications: Stanhope is Francis, and Grafton is Stanhope. These two, however, closely resemble other heads by Gillray of Stanhope and Grafton.] Above their heads and among the clouds are fleeing serpents, a bonnet-rouge, a book: 'Irruption of the Goths and Vandals. 2d Edition', and a scroll whose ragged edges merge in cloud: 'Patriotick Propositions. Peace, Peace on any Terms. Fraternisation Unconditional Submission No Law, no King, No God.' Another branch of cloud diverges to the left behind Justice. Its upper part is covered with wrecked ships and tiny fleeing figures. These are little sansculottes, all with large bonnets-rouges, one naked, others barelegged except for boots or sabots. They drop their swords."--British Museum online catalogue.

Variant Titles:

Sun of the Constitution rising superior to the clouds of Opposition

Topics:

Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership.
Derby, Edward Smith Stanley,--Earl of,--1752-1834--Caricatures and cartoons.
Fox, Charles James,--1749-1806--Caricatures and cartoons.
Grafton, Augustus Henry Fitzroy,--Duke of,--1735-1811--Caricatures and cartoons.
Harvey, Francis--Ownership.
Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher.
Lansdowne, William Petty,--Marquis of,--1737-1805--Caricatures and cartoons.
Lauderdale, James Maitland,--Earl of,--1759-1839--Caricatures and cartoons.
Norfolk, Charles Howard,--Duke of,--1746-1815--Caricatures and cartoons.
Pitt, William,--1759-1806--Caricatures and cartoons.
Riviere & Son Binding.
Sheridan, Richard Brinsley,--1751-1816--Caricatures and cartoons.
Stanhope, Charles Stanhope,--Earl,--1753-1816--Caricatures and cartoons.
Taylor, Michael Angelo,--1757-1834--Caricatures and cartoons.

Language:

English

Genre:

Engravings--England--London--1795.
Etchings--England--London--1795.
Satires (Visual works)--England--1795.

Format:

Image

Rights:

These images are provided for study purposes only. For publication or other use of images from the Library's collection, please contact the Lewis Walpole Library at walpole@yale.edu. Further details on the Library's photoduplication policy are available at http://www.library.yale.edu/walpole/html/research/rights_reproductions.html

Call Number:

795.04.30.01+
Auchincloss Gillray v. 3

Orbis Record:

8039398

Yale Collection:

Lewis Walpole Library

Digital Collection:

Lewis Walpole Library

Local Record Number:

lwlpr08536

Citation:

Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires, v. 7, no. 8644
Wright, T. Works of James Gillray, the caricaturist with the history of his life and times, p. 183

OID:

11124038

PID:

digcoll:976825