3 OF 6

'The death of the Great Wolf'

3 of 6 portraits of John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham

by James Gillray, published by Hannah Humphrey
hand-coloured etching and engraving, published 17 December 1795
12 7/8 in. x 17 1/2 in. (326 mm x 444 mm) paper size
Purchased, 1947
Reference Collection
NPG D12551

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Artistsback to top

James Gillray (1756-1815), Caricaturist. Artist associated with 881 portraits, Sitter in 7 portraits.
Hannah Humphrey (active 1778-1822), Publisher and printseller. Artist associated with 717 portraits, Sitter in 1 portrait.

Sittersback to top

Richard Pepper Arden, 1st Baron Alvanley (1744-1804), Judge. Sitter in 14 portraits.
Edmund Burke (1729 or 1730-1797), Statesman. Sitter associated with 103 portraits.
John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham (1756-1835), General. Sitter in 6 portraits.
Charles Long, 1st Baron Farnborough (1760-1838), Paymaster General and connoisseur. Sitter in 10 portraits.
William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville (1759-1834), Prime Minister. Sitter associated with 67 portraits.
Thomas Powys, 1st Baron Lilford (1743-1800). Sitter in 8 portraits.
David Murray, 2nd Earl of Mansfield (1727-1796), Diplomat and statesman. Sitter in 18 portraits.
Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville (1742-1811), Statesman. Sitter associated with 80 portraits.
William Pitt (1759-1806), Prime Minister. Sitter associated with 167 portraits.
Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond and Lennox (1735-1806), Soldier, diplomat and politician. Sitter in 26 portraits.
George Rose (1744-1818), Statesman. Sitter associated with 14 portraits.
Alexander Wedderburn, 1st Earl of Rosslyn (Lord Loughborough) (1733-1805), Lord Chancellor. Sitter associated with 32 portraits.
William Wilberforce (1759-1833), Philanthropist and reformer. Sitter associated with 31 portraits.
Hon. William Windham (1750-1810), Statesman. Sitter associated with 50 portraits.

This portraitback to top

This caricature of the Tory administration and its supporters is a brilliant parody of The Death of Wolfe of 1771; Benjamin West's heroic history painting commemorating the 1759 Siege of Quebec. Published the day before the passing of the Treason and Sedition Bills in 1795, it mocks the government's over-reaction to domestic radical agitation in light of the revolutionary events in France. The heavy ministerial forces in the background are clearly disproportionate to the small number of unarmed sans-culottes visible to the far left. In the foreground, the mortally wounded Prime Minister, William Pitt is supported by the conservative political writer Edmund Burke and the Secretary of State for War Henry Dundas. Instead of staunching the wound, Dundas offers a glass of port - one of Pitt's well known weaknesses. In the place of the Mohawk Indian of West's original sits a near-naked Baron Loughborough, the Lord Chancellor, with the purse of the Great Seal and a monstrous wig of office replacing the Mohawk's beaded bag and headdress.