'Charon's boat - or - the ghost's of "All the Talents" taking their last voyage'
1 portrait of Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey
'Charon's boat - or - the ghost's of "All the Talents" taking their last voyage'
by James Gillray, published by Hannah Humphrey
hand-coloured etching and aquatint, published 16 July 1807
9 5/8 in. x 13 7/8 in. (244 mm x 352 mm) plate size; 10 3/8 in. x 14 3/4 in. (265 mm x 376 mm) paper size
Purchased, 1947
Reference Collection
NPG D12895
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.
Sittersback to top
- Richard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Chandos (1776-1839), Statesman and print collector. Sitter associated with 41 portraits. Identify
- Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Bt (1770-1844), Parliamentary reformer. Sitter associated with 135 portraits. Identify
- George Canning (1770-1827), Prime Minister. Sitter associated with 64 portraits. Identify
- Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), Lord Protector of England. Sitter associated with 224 portraits. Identify
- Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Erskine (1750-1823), Lord Chancellor. Sitter associated with 69 portraits. Identify
- Charles James Fox (1749-1806), Whig statesman. Sitter associated with 313 portraits. Identify
- William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville (1759-1834), Prime Minister. Sitter associated with 70 portraits. Identify
- Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (1764-1845), Prime Minister. Sitter associated with 190 portraits. Identify
- Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings (1754-1826), Army officer and Politician, Governor-General of India. Sitter in 46 portraits. Identify
- Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (1780-1863), Whig politician; Home Secretary, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Lord President of the Council; Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery. Sitter associated with 77 portraits. Identify
- James Maitland, 8th Earl of Lauderdale (1759-1839), Scottish politician and author of 'Inquiry into the Nature and Origin of Public Wealth'. Sitter associated with 37 portraits. Identify
- Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool (1770-1828), Prime Minister. Sitter associated with 59 portraits. Identify
- Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry (Lord Castlereagh) (1769-1822), Statesman. Sitter associated with 56 portraits. Identify
- Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (1758-1794), French lawyer and politician. Sitter in 4 portraits. Identify
- John Jervis, Earl of St Vincent (1735-1823), Admiral. Sitter associated with 31 portraits. Identify
- Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816), Dramatist and parliamentary orator. Sitter associated with 168 portraits. Identify
- Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth (1757-1844), Prime Minister. Sitter associated with 78 portraits. Identify
- Sir George Pretyman Tomline (1750-1827), Bishop of Winchester. Sitter in 4 portraits. Identify
- John Horne Tooke (1736-1812), Radical politician; MP and philologist. Sitter associated with 49 portraits. Identify
- Samuel Whitbread (1764-1815), Politician and brewer; son of brewer Samuel Whitbread. Sitter associated with 21 portraits. Identify
- William Windham (1750-1810), Politician; Secretary at War. Sitter associated with 52 portraits. Identify
Subjects & Themesback to top
Events of 1807back to top
Current affairs
Act is passed abolishing the British slave trade after vigorous campaigning by hundreds of thousands of people led by Thomas Clarkson and championed in parliament by reformer William Wilberforce.Resignation of 'Ministry of all the Talents'. Whig politician William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, Duke of Portland, succeeds as Prime Minister.
Art and science
Thomas Hope publishes Household Furniture and Interior Decoration; influential in promoting Greek and especially Egyptian models as the epitome of fashionable style.International
French invasion of Spain and Portugal.Britain occupies Copenhagen and captures the Danish fleet.
Napoleon begins to wage an economic battle against Britain, recognising the impossibility of victory at sea because of Britain's superior naval power. He aims to close the entire European coastline to British trade.
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