Paddy on horse-back

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James Gillray
1756-1815
Paddy on horse-back
etching, hand colored
225 x 339 mm; 253 x 353 mm
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1900.
Peel 2305
Published: 
[London] : Publish'd March 4th 1779 by W. Humphrey, [1779]
Provenance: 
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Notes: 

Printmaker and place of publication from BM Satires.
Library's copy trimmed within plate mark.

Summary: 

An Irishman seated on a bull which is galloping across open country towards London, seen in the distance on the right., St. Paul's being visible. He wears a short jacket and ragged knee-breeches, his legs and feet are bare. His hair is dishevelled and he is urging on the bull with his hat, which is raised in his right hand. He sits facing the animal's tail, which he holds in his left hand. From his saddle-bag appear books: "St Pat . ." and "New System of Fortune Hunting"; a paper hangs out of it inscribed with a list of ladies with fortunes, beginning "Lady Mary Rotten Rump St James Square 30,000£". A sack inscribed "Potatoes" is tied to the bull in front of the saddle. A milestone shows that it is "IIII Miles from [London]".

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