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.

Paddy on horse-back

Image not available
James Gillray
1756-1815

Paddy on horse-back

[London] : Publish'd March 4th 1779 by W. Humphrey, [1779]
etching, hand colored
image: 222 x 337 mm; plate mark: 247 x 349 mm; sheet: 268 x 387 mm
Bequest of Gordon N. Ray, 1987.
1986.591
Notes
Printmaker and place of publication from George.
Provenance

From the library of Gordon N. Ray.

Summary

Print shows an Irishman seated backward on a bull which is galloping across open country towards London. 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 while gripping the animal's tail 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]".

Associated names
Humphrey, William, ca. 1740-ca. 1810, publisher.
Ray, Gordon N. (Gordon Norton), 1915-1986, former owner.
Classification
Department