Alessandro, Count of Cagliostro (Giuseppe Balsamo) ('A Masonic anecdote')
8 of 72 portraits matching these criteria:
- set matching 'James Gillray etchings (1781-1810)'
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Alessandro, Count of Cagliostro (Giuseppe Balsamo) ('A Masonic anecdote')
by James Gillray, published by Hannah Humphrey
hand-coloured etching, published 21 November 1786
19 7/8 in. x 17 5/8 in. (504 mm x 448 mm) paper size
Purchased, 1947
Reference Collection
NPG D13056
Sitterback to top
- Alessandro, Count of Cagliostro (Giuseppe Balsamo) (1743-1795), Italian adventurer and magician. Sitter in 2 portraits.
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.
Subjects & Themesback to top
Events of 1786back to top
Current affairs
Philosopher and politician Edmund Burke instigates impeachment proceedings against Warren Hastings, former Governor-General of Bengal after concerns about the moral standards of the British in India are raised.Prime Minister William Pitt appoints commissioners for the reduction of the national debt and establishes a sinking fund of £1 million a year.
Government approves the establishment of a penal colony at Botany Bay.
Art and science
Robert Burns publishes Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect bringing him immediate success across the country.Engraver and publisher John Boydell initiates plans for his Shakespeare Gallery in an effort to establish a school of British history painting.
Merchant David Dale establishes New Lanark in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, as a model cotton milling community.
International
General Charles Cornwallis succeeds Warren Hastings as Governor-General in India.Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Marriage of Figaro premieres in Vienna.
Francisco Goya is appointed court painter to the Spanish king Charles III.
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