'Temperance enjoying a frugal meal' (Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz; King George III)

1 portrait of Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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'Temperance enjoying a frugal meal' (Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz; King George III)

by James Gillray, published by Hannah Humphrey
hand-coloured stipple, published 28 July 1792
14 1/4 in. x 11 1/2 in. (362 mm x 292 mm) plate size; 19 1/2 in. x 14 5/8 in. (495 mm x 370 mm) paper size
Purchased, 1947
Reference Collection
NPG D12461

Sittersback to top

Artistsback to top

  • James Gillray (1756-1815), Caricaturist. Artist or producer associated with 887 portraits, Sitter in 7 portraits.
  • Hannah Humphrey (circa 1745-1818), Publisher and printseller. Artist or producer associated with 720 portraits, Sitter in 1 portrait.

This portraitback to top

George III and Queen Charlotte; their supposed miserliness was often caricatured and the simplicity of the King's diet was well known.

Related worksback to top

  • NPG D12460: King George IV ('A voluptuary under the horrors of digestion') (companion portrait)

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Cannadine, Sir David (Introduction); Cooper, Tarnya; Stewart, Louise; MacGibbon, Rab; Cox, Paul; Peltz, Lucy; Moorhouse, Paul; Broadley, Rosie; Jascot-Gill, Sabina, Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits, 2018 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, USA, 7 October 2018 -3 February 2019. Bendigo Art Gallery, Australia, 16 March - 14 July 2019.), p. 151 Read entry

    The royal family were frequent subjects of the greatest satirist of the age, James Gillray. These two prints (NPG D12461 and NPG D33359) contrast the parsimonious king and queen eating boiled eggs and salad, while their notoriously extravagant son, the Prince of Wales, reclines in his chair having gorged himself on a huge meal of mutton, jellies and brandy. He is surrounded with multiple examples of his self-indulgence, gluttony and debauchery.

Placesback to top

Events of 1792back to top

Current affairs

The famous seven year trial of Warren Hastings, Governor-General of Bengal, on charges of embezzlement and murder, ends with his acquittal. Pro-Revolutionary philosopher Joseph Priestley's house is destroyed by a mob on the anniversary of the fall of the Bastille. Their actions are later seen as a key moment in the defeat of Enlightenment ideals in England.

Art and science

Mary Wollstonecraft publishes A Vindication of the Rights of Woman; a radical work which called on women to be allies to one another; fearless in their support and free in their criticism.
Sir Joshua Reynolds dies and is succeeded by Benjamin West as President of the Royal Academy.

International

The mob invades the Tuileries and the French Royal Family is imprisoned marking the end of France's experiment with constitutional monarchy and the declaration of the first French Republic.
The Revolutionary Commune is established in Paris.
France declares war on Austria and then Prussia.

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