Integrity Retiring from Office
published February 24, 1801
Medium
Hand-colored etching and aquatint on paper
Dimensions
Image: 23.7 × 34.7 cm (9 3/8 × 13 11/16 in.); Plate: 25.5 × 35.5 cm (10 1/16 × 14 in.); Sheet: 27.2 × 38 cm (10 3/4 × 15 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
61452
Art Historical Context
**Integrity Retiring from Office** James Gillray, published on February 24, 1801, is a masterful example of Georgian-era political satire. This hand-colored etching and aquint on paper, measuring about 9⅜ × 13⅞ inches, captures Gillray's signature style of exaggerated caricature, poking fun at Britain's turbulent political landscape during the Napoleonic Wars. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Prints Drawings department, it exemplifies the biting wit that made Gillray the preeminent caricaturist of time. The print emerged amid a pivotal moment: Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger's...