Terms and conditions of use
A prince of the Old School
1800
- Medium
- hand-coloured etching
- Measurements
- 25.3 × 19.8 cm (image) 25.6 × 20.2 cm (plate) 25.9 × 20.8 cm (sheet)
- Place/s of Execution
- London, England
- Catalogue/s Raisonné
- BM Satires 9558; Wright & Evans 469
- Printing/Publishing
- published by Hannah Humphrey, London
- Inscription
- printed in ink (in image) l.r.: J.s (s in superscript above . ) Gillray ad viv fec.t (t in superscript above . )
printed in ink (in image) l.l.: Pub.d (d in superscript above . ) March 11.th (th in superscript above . ) 1800. by H. Humphrey 27 St (t in superscript) James’s Street
printed in ink (in image) u.c.: A Prince of the Old School .
printed in ink (in image) l.l.-l.r.: “ There is an Easineſs of Deportment., and an Elegance of indescribable Debonair, about the Beaus of / “ the Old School, which would be ridiculous for the Puppies of the day to think of imitating”- Lord Chesterfield Letters - Accession Number
- 1573.22-4
- Departments
- International Prints / International Prints and Drawings
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 1946
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of the Joe White Bequest - Gallery location
- 17th & 18th Century Decorative Arts & Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International - About this work
-
In this work, James Gillray depicts Charles Boothby Clopton, a gentleman said to have inspired the character of Prince Leveret in George Colman’s 1779 play The Separate Maintenance. Boothby was notorious for his anachronistic and idiosyncratic fashion choices – he had not changed his style of hat in twenty years and always carried an umbrella on his person, regardless of the season. In Gillray’s etching, Boothby’s stiff posture and stoic expression create the impression of a man deeply set in his ways. The two men would have had ample opportunity to cross paths, as Boothby lived on Clarges Street in London, just a short walk from the print shop of Gillray’s principal publisher, Hannah Humphrey.
- Subjects (general)
- Human Figures Humour and Satire Portraits
- Subjects (specific)
- caricatures fashion (culture-related concept) gentlemen hats men (male humans) menswear profiles (figures) umbrellas
- Movements
- Georgian (British Renaissance-Baroque style)
