Author: James Gillray
Title: 6 Gillray Vintage Engraved Humorous Caricatures on 2 pages - A Bravura Air. Mandane & A Lyoness
Publication: c1850
Description: Disbound. James Gillray (1756 – 1815) was a British caricaturist and printmaker famous for his etched political and social satires, mainly published between 1792 and 1810. Many of his works are held at the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Gillray has been called "the father of the political cartoon", with his works satirizing George III, Napoleon, prime ministers and generals. Regarded as one of the two most influential cartoonists, the other being William Hogarth, Gillray's wit and humour, knowledge of life, fertility of resource, keen sense of the ludicrous, and beauty of execution, at once gave him the first place among caricaturists.
In 1851 Henry George Bohn put out an edition, from the original plates in a handsome elephant folio, with coarser sketches—commonly known as the "Suppressed Plates"—being published in a separate volume. Many copies of the Bohn Edition have been broken up into individual sheets.
Both of these prints are from Bohn, with images on both sides of each sheet, which is typical of Bohn.
They are:
1.A Bravura Air. Mandane -This print shows Mrs. Elizabeth Billington in the role of Xerxes daughter, Mandane in the three act opera Artaxerxes by Thomas Arne. She is probably singing the aria, "The Soldier, Tir'd of War's Alarms" in Act 3, which requires a bravura performance such as only a soprano with a large range and consummate technical skills can handle. By all accounts, Mrs. Billington was famous for such performances.- (On the reverse are two cropped images, Mental Energy & A Cure for Drowsiness, or a Pinch of Cephalic)
2. 2. A Lyoness - Based on an amateur drawing in the British Museum (which I have not seen) A Lyoness is a portrait caricature of the wealthy Jewish matriarch, Polly Lyon de Simons. She would have been 48 years old in 1801. (On the reverse are two cropped images, A Bouquet of the Last Century & a caricature with the title cut off.)
The two front images are both in color The images on the reverse sides are in black and white.
Both are in very good condition and suitable for framing.
Seller ID: B1223