Pitt (left), as a toreador, rides a rearing white horse (of Hanover) with a spear directed horizontally against a buil (John Bull) snorting fire and bleeding from many wounds. He wears a short tunic and sash; his saddle-cloth is a leopard-skin on which is a crest: the white horse of Hanover enclosed in a Garter ribbon inscribed 'Honi soit qui mal y pense', and surmounted by a crown. He spurs his horse viciously. Two tiers of spectators in an arc of the arena are freely sketched. In the upper row George III looking through a glass is in the centre, on his left is the Queen, on his right Loughborough. The man next the Queen is (?) Grenville. In the lower tier Fox is conspicuous with (?) the Prince of Wales on his left; Sheridan stands behind them. The other spectators are members of the Opposition or ragamuffins. Those who can be identified are (right to left): Stanhope, Derby, Grafton, Lansdowne. A chimney-sweep applauds with brush and shovel.
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 royal bull-fight / Js. Gy. desn. et fect.
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James Gillray
1756-1815
The royal bull-fight / Js. Gy. desn. et fect.
hand colored etching
image: 24.3 x 34.1 cm; plate: 24.8 x 34.9 cm; sheet: 25.7 x 35.9 cm
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1900.
Peel 2893
Published:
[London] : H. Humphrey, 1795.
Provenance:
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
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