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 Crown & Anchor libel, burnt by the public hangman; / Js. Gy. desn. et fect.

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James Gillray
1756-1815

The Crown & Anchor libel, burnt by the public hangman; / Js. Gy. desn. et fect.

Published

[London] : H. Humphrey, 1795.

hand colored etching
image: 24 x 34 cm; sheet: 24.8 x 35 cm
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1900.
Peel 2898
Notes
Trimmed to plate mark.
Provenance

Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.

Summary

Pitt as hangman stands beside a fire immediately outside the door of the 'Crown & Anchor' (name on door-post). In his right hand is an axe; he drops an open book into the flames, and looks over his shoulder at Reeves who is disappearing into the tavern. On one page (right) is the trunk of a tree surmounted by a crown and the words 'The Royal Stump', on the other: 'No Lords No Commons No Parliame[nt] Damn the Revolution'. He wears a long coat with a hangman's noose tied round his waist, a round hat, and wrinkled gaiters. From his pocket protrudes a book: 'Ministerial Sincerity and Attachment a Novel'. Reeves, with hands outstretched in protest, says: "O Jenky! Jenky! have I gone through thick & thin for this ?" On the right Fox, Sheridan, and Erskine blow at the fire; the two former on hands and knees, Erskine, in wig and gown, between them, an arm across the shoulders of each. Smoke and the lower parts of the adjacent houses form a background.

Associated names
Gillray, James, 1756-1815, engraver.
Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher.
Peel, Robert, 1788-1850, former owner.
Classification
Department