'The board of controul, or the blessings of a Scotch dictator'
18 of 174 portraits of William Pitt
'The board of controul, or the blessings of a Scotch dictator'
by James Gillray, published by R. Phillips
hand-coloured etching and aquatint, published 20 March 1787
10 3/4 in. x 14 5/8 in. (272 mm x 373 mm) plate size; 12 in. x 16 in. (305 mm x 405 mm) paper size
Purchased, 1962
Reference Collection
NPG D12359
Sittersback to top
- Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville (1742-1811), Statesman. Sitter associated with 82 portraits. Identify
- William Pitt (1759-1806), Prime Minister. Sitter associated with 174 portraits. Identify
- Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney (1733-1800), Statesman. Sitter in 14 portraits. Identify
Artistsback to top
- James Gillray (1756-1815), Caricaturist. Artist or producer associated with 887 portraits, Sitter in 7 portraits.
- R. Phillips (active 1787). Artist or producer associated with 3 portraits.
Subjects & Themesback to top
Events of 1787back to top
Current affairs
Social reformers Granville Sharp and Thomas Clarkson found the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade in London with support from John Wesley, Josiah Wedgwood and others.George III shows first signs of mental instability in November.
Art and science
Painter Robert Barker takes out a patent on the Panorama..Astronomer William Herschel discovers the two moons of Uranus, Titania and Oberon.
The original Lord's Cricket Ground holds its first cricket match.
International
Captain William Bligh sets sail for Tahiti on The Bounty.First performance of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Don Giovanni at the National Theatre, Prague.
A British ship lands a party of freed slaves as the first modern settlers in Sierra Leone.
Captain Arthur Phillip leaves Portsmouth with eleven ships full of convicts to establish a penal colony in Australia.
Bahamas become a British colony.
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