The great south sea caterpillar, transform'd into a Bath butterfly / Js. Gy. desn. et fect.

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James Gillray
1756-1815
The great south sea caterpillar, transform'd into a Bath butterfly / Js. Gy. desn. et fect.
hand colored etching
image: 34.4 x 23.8 cm; plate: 34.8 x 24.5 cm; sheet: 34.8 x 24.7 cm
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1900.
Peel 2877
Published: 
[London] : H. Humphrey, 1795.
Provenance: 
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Summary: 

A creature with the head of Sir Joseph Banks, a body defined by the ribbon of the Bath and roughly in the form of a chrysalis, and with the wings of a butterfly, rises (right) from a mud flat surrounded by sea. His head and body are decorated with trails of leaves; on his wings are sea-creatures: a shell, lobster, starfish, &c, and an (empty) cornucopia. He wears the jewel of the Bath with three insects (in place of crowns) in the centre. He is rising towards rays which radiate from a sun enclosing a crown in the upper right corner of the design. Caterpillars are emerging from the mud flat. Beneath the title: 'Description of the New Bath Butterfly - taken from the "Philosophical Transactions for 1795" - "This Insect first crawl'd into notice from | among the Weeds & Mud on the Banks of the South Sea; & being afterwards placed in a Warm Situation by the Royal Society, was | changed by the heat of the Sun into its present form------ it is notic'd & Valued Solely on account of the beautiful Red which encircles | its Body, & the Shining Spot on its Breast; a Distinction which never fails to render Caterpillars valuable.'

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