The 18th century was the start of the modern day celebrity culture that we know and love today - or rather the culture we love to hate and hate to love! This was the start of the gossip magazines, ‘famous for being famous’ celebrities, and the paparazzi! But how did the 18th century paps get candid shots of celebrities pouring out of parties long before the invention of the modern camera in the 1840s?
CARICATURISTS! Caricature artists would attend events frequented by celebrities and sketch the people there. Fashion magazines would record the outfits that the ladies were wearing to report the latest trends to the eager public. Caricaturists would capture over-the-top versions of the people attending and record gossip-worthy interactions.
This is one such fashion print from a ladies magazine at the time, shows the latest fashion of January 1791.
Kitty Fisher, a ‘famous for being famous’ beauty and socialite, came from nothing and rose through the ranks from her many affairs. On one occasion, she was riding in a London park when she fell from her horse and landed with her skirts billowed up. The masses were divided between thinking she did it as a publicity stunt or that it was an innocent accident. After hearing about this event from sources, a caricaturist sensationalized the story, showing Kitty reclined elegantly with her stockings on show, and the surrounding men clambering to get a look.
After creating the drawing, the caricaturists would then have it printed in the local print shop they were affiliated with and the images would be plastered across the print shop windows for the public to peruse and purchase at a low cost.
The below print titled 'Very Slippy Weather' is by well known caricaturist James Gillray, whose caricatures were printed and sold at Hannah Humphrey’s Print Shop. Gillray shows how the public would gather around print shop windows to catch up on the latest gossip.
The other day, during the audit of our collection, we opened a solander Box filled with Georgian Caricatures! Ranging from the late 1700s to the early 1800s, our Georgian caricature prints are an amazing assemblage of the different types of satirical prints of that time period. DISCLAIMER: not all the prints included in this blog post are from our collection.
What’s a solander box?
An archival grade box with a lid on a hinge. Its invention is attributed to Swedish botanist Daniel Solander (1733-82) who was thought to have created them during his time working at the British Museum, where he was tasked with making inventory of the museum’s natural history collection.
1789-1815 is said to be the time when caricature prints were at their height. There were many different themes that caricaturists would cover – the above mentioned celebrity gossip being just one. Caricatures covered areas of Georgian society!
Politics
Political caricatures have continued today and were a major part of caricature prints in the Georgian era. This cartoon from our collection depicts Napoleon and his wife Queen Josephine gorging on a feast of the landmarks of England (London).
The artist aligns Napoleon's reign with that of King Belshazzar’s from the Old Testament. Just like the story of Belshazzar’s feast, writing from God appears on the wall while Napoleon feasts. It declares that he has been found not to be a fit ruler and that the days of his reign of terror are numbered, thereby defiantly declaring that his days on top are coming to an end and that he will never take England.
Social Classes
Caricaturists would pock fun at all levels of society, showing us not only how the different classes were perceived but also that no one, not even the King himself (especially not the King!) was safe from public ridicule. The following print depicts King George with Mrs Fitzherbert, who he unofficially married before he was made to marry Duchess Caroline. The print shows that the so called ‘secret’ marriage was not exactly a secret.
Fashion Trends
Artists would expose the ridiculousness of current trends by drawing over-the-top versions of them. Though, in some cases, this was not far off the reality! In this print, caricaturist Matthew Darly comments on the size of ladies wigs by showing that the seats of the carriage had to be removed in order for the two women to fit.
All caricature prints are a great way to see the latest fashion trends of that moment, which may perhaps have been overlooked by the higher brow fashion magazines. An example is the pixie cut trend which some daring young ladies adopted in the late 1790s – a far cry away from the towering wigs which define this century. In the background of the below print, you can see the back of the head of a lady at who sports this pixie cut.
Caricatures are an amazing historical resource to get a feel for the personality of the Georgians and to see the human side behind the pomp of the court and the idealized faces of Georgian portraits.
What I love about them is that they show that the Georgians weren’t really so different from us!