Britannia Between Scylla and Charybdis
published April 8, 1793
Medium
Etching in dark brown, with handcoloring, on cream wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 27.8 × 35.6 cm (11 × 14 1/16 in.); Plate: 30.3 × 36.4 cm (11 15/16 × 14 3/8 in.); Sheet: 31.1 × 39.3 cm (12 1/4 × 15 1/2 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
90242
Art Historical Context
James Gillray's *Britannia Between Sclla and Charyb*, published on April 8, 1793, is a masterful political caricature from the height of the French Revolutionary Wars. This etching in dark brown ink enriched with vivid handcoloring on cream wove paper, captures image at 27.8 × 35.6 cm, inviting viewers into Gillray's sharp-witted world of satire. As one of Britain's foremost caricaturists, Gillray drew from classical mythology—Scylla and Charybdis representing inescapable dangers—to allegorize Britannia's precarious navigation between threats, likely evoking the turmoil of revolution abroad an...