Joseph Ritson ('Impiger iracundus inexorabilis acer')

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Joseph Ritson ('Impiger iracundus inexorabilis acer')

by James Sayers, published by Hannah Humphrey
etching and aquatint, published 22 March 1803
10 5/8 in. x 8 in. (270 mm x 204 mm) plate size; 11 3/4 in. x 8 7/8 in. (297 mm x 224 mm) paper size
Purchased, 1905
Reference Collection
NPG D9623

Sitterback to top

Artistsback to top

  • Hannah Humphrey (circa 1745-1818), Publisher and printseller. Artist or producer associated with 720 portraits, Sitter in 1 portrait.
  • James Sayers (1748-1823), Artist. Artist or producer associated with 192 portraits, Sitter in 1 portrait.

Related worksback to top

  • NPG D48868: Joseph Ritson ('Impiger iracundus inexorabilis acer') (from same plate)

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Events of 1803back to top

Current affairs

The Vice Society is formally established by John Reeves and his associates to campaign against blasphemy and immorality, particularly that perpetrated by Thomas Paine and the Edinburgh Review.

Art and science

Erasmus Darwin's Temple of Nature published posthumously. A scientific treaty in the form of an elaborate couplet poem, its content anticipated some of the evolutionary ideas developed by his grandson, Charles Darwin, fifty years later.
Construction of the Caledonian Canal begins.

International

War with France resumes, sparking new fears of a cross-channel invasion.
United Irishman, Robert Emmett's attempted uprising in Dublin. Planned to coincide with Napoleon's expected invasion, it aimed to overthrow the English administration but ended in failure. Emmett is hanged along with several other conspirators.

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