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.

Sin, Death and the Devil : vide Milton.

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James Gillray
1756-1815

Sin, Death and the Devil : vide Milton.

Published

[London] : Pubd. June 9th, 1792, by H. Humphrey, No. 18 Old Bond Street, [9 June 1792]

hand colored etching
image: 316 x 392 mm; plate: 322 x 406 mm; sheet: 330 x 414 mm
Peel 2786
Notes
Title etched below image.
Printmaker from British Museum catalogue.
Six columns of verse from Milton's Paradise Lost, four above the image and two below: " ... black it stood as night, Fierce as ten Furies, terrible as hell, And shook a dreadfull dart: what seemd his head, The likeness of a Kingly crown had on;' ... "Had not the Snaky-Sorceress that sat, "Fast by hell-gate, and kept the fatal Key, "Ris'n, and with hideous outcry rushd between.'"
One line of text in bottom of design: NB: The above performance containing portraits of the Devil & his relatives ...
Summary

A satire on the struggle between Pitt and Thurlow travestied as a scene from 'Paradise Lost'. Pitt (left) is Death, wearing the king's crown and using a long sceptre as a weapon. Thurlow (right) is Satan; he raises the (breaking) mace to smite, and holds out an oval shield decorated with the bag of the Great Seal and a tiny woolsack. The Queen, as Sin, naked, with snaky locks (Medusa-like), and two writhing serpents for legs, interposes with outstretched arms, looking with terrified face at Thurlow in her desire to protect Pitt. She is a hideous hag with pendent breasts; from her snaky hair hangs a large key inscribed 'The Instrument of all our Woe', and evidently symbolizing Secret Influence ... Pitt's naked body is emaciated and corpse-like; from his shoulders hangs a long ermine-trimmed cloak; his sceptre radiates darts of lightning. Behind him, and guarding the gate of Hell which is indicated by a stone arch, is Cerberus, with the profile heads of Dundas, Grenville, and Richmond, looking up at Thurlow; their body terminates in a large serpent with a barbed tail. Thurlow has wings, and is naked except for a quasi-Roman kilt.

Associated names
Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher.
Peel, Robert, 1788-1850, former owner.
Classification
Department