Gillray, James (1757-1815)

Caricature by James Gillray depicting George III as the king of Brobdignag scrutinizing Napoleon as Gulliver, based on a scene in Swift's Gulliver's Travels. This is an unusually favourable portrayal of the king.

A cartoon by the English caricaturist James Gillray, 24 October 1798. John Bull (the personification of England) is taking a luncheon served by Admiral Nelson, whose victory at the Battle of the Nile (or Aboukir Bay) is being celebrated by this satire.

English caricaturist. Creator of over 1,500 cartoons, his fierce, sometimes gross caricatures satirized George III, the Prince of Wales, politicians, and the social follies of his day, and later targeted the French and Napoleon.

Initially a letter engraver and actor, he was encouraged to become a caricaturist by the works of William Hogarth, and he was celebrated for his coloured etchings, directed against the French and the English court. Gillray's works form a brilliant if unconventional history of the late Georgian and Napoleonic period.

He spared no one, and one of his most brutal caricatures, Dido in Despair, was directed against Admiral Nelson's mistress Lady Hamilton. He became insane in later life.