About this artwork
The prolific James Gillray often included Classical nautical references in his contemporary political satires. Around the time of the French Revolution, Gillray depicted the British prime minister William Pitt as the wandering Odysseus, who pilots a small vessel holding the buxom Britannia through a dangerous strait toward the “Haven of Public Happiness.” Pitt attempts to steer between two conflicting forms of government: a whirlpool (Charybdis) on the right, symbolizing the crown and absolute monarchy, and a perilous rock with lurking monster (Scylla) on the left, representing democracy.
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Prints and Drawings
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Artist
- James Gillray
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Title
- Britannia Between Scylla and Charybdis
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Place
- England (Artist's nationality:)
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Date
- Published 1793
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Medium
- Etching in dark brown, with handcoloring, on cream wove paper
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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.)
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Credit Line
- Gift of Thomas F. Furness in memory of William McCallin McKee
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Reference Number
- 1928.1529
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IIIF Manifest
- https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/90242/manifest.json