Pitt (right), as a butcher, stands arrogantly behind his block, holding up a leg of mutton to a hungry, lean, and dismayed John Bull, who stands with bent knees (left), his right hand groping in his breeches pocket. Pitt says: "A Crown, - take it, or leave't". His cleaver lies on his blood-stained block, on the front of which are two placards side by side listing outrageous prices. Behind Pitt is the pent-house roof of the shop or stall from the front of which hang joints of meat and pieces of offal. The lower story of a house forms a background (left). John Bull wears the dress and wrinkled gaiters of a yokel.
Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.
Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.
The British butcher, supplying John Bull with a substitute for bread / Js. Gy. desn. et fect.
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James Gillray
1756-1815
The British butcher, supplying John Bull with a substitute for bread / Js. Gy. desn. et fect.
hand colored etching
image: 38.5 x 24.4 cm; plate: 39 x 24.9 cm; sheet: 40 x 25.9 cm
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1900.
Peel 2876
Published:
[London] : H. Humphrey, 1795.
Provenance:
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
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