The American Rattle Snake
April 12, 1782
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
plate: 10 1/8 x 14 1/16 in. (25.7 x 35.7 cm) sheet: 10 7/8 x 16 5/16 in. (27.6 x 41.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of William H. Huntington, 1883
Accession Number
83.2.1042
Tags
Art Historical Context
Created in April 1782, near the close of the American Revolutionary War, *The American Rattle Snake* is a biting political etching that captures the era’s turbulent transatlantic tensions. James Gillray, one of Britain’s leading caricaturists, used rattlesnake—a potent colonial symbol first popularized on flags and currency—as a central motif to comment on the conflict’s surprising outcome. The print’s satirical edge reflects how British artists processed the loss of the American colonies through humor and exaggeration. The choice of etching allowed Gillray to render sharp lines and intricate...