James Sayers
(1748-1823), ArtistSitter in 1 portrait
Artist associated with 192 portraits
An attorney of independent means he quit his profession in order to focus on political caricature. His allegiance was with the Tory William Pitt and he directed his satire against Charles James Fox and his Coalition Ministry. Underlining the power of the political print in the late eighteenth century, Fox is said to have declared that Sayers' caricatures had done him 'more mischief than the debates in Parliament or the works of the Press'. Sayers' strengths lay in his gift for portraiture and characterisation and his prints were evidently a source of reference for James Gillray and others. The National Portrait Gallery collection includes an album of etchings selected for a friend by Sayers himself in 1818.
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