A sketchy brown pen and ink study of an older, dapper gentlemen surrounded by a mass of ill-defined bowing supplicants. The image is overlaid with a grid, presumably for transfer.
A sketchy brown pen and ink study of an older, dapper gentlemen surrounded by a mass of ill-defined bowing supplicants. The image is overlaid with a grid, presumably for transfer.
A sketchy brown pen and ink study of an older, dapper gentlemen surrounded by a mass of ill-defined bowing supplicants. The image is overlaid with a grid, presumably for transfer.
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James Gillray

Study for An Old English Gentleman Pester’d by Servants Wanting Places

Maker

James Gillray (British, 1756-1815)

Title

Study for An Old English Gentleman Pester’d by Servants Wanting Places

Year

ca. 1809

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

pen and ink

Dimensions

18.6 x 22.9 cm (7 5/16 x 9 inches) (sheet)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Numerous inscriptions in Gillray's hand on recto and verso.

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Jesse Metcalf Fund

Object Number

76.170

Type

Exhibition History

Drawing Closer
Four Hundred Years of Drawing from the RISD Museum
Mar 12, 2022 – Sep 04, 2022

Label copy

The English caricaturist James Gillray executed this energetic drawing as a preliminary study for one of his infamous printed political satires. Both sides of the sheet are abuzz with different types of marks: ruled grids, rapid hatches, loose squiggles, fragments of writing, and coiled pen strokes. Gillray’s almost frenzied process of invention pushes his preliminary compositions to the limits of legibility. After working over the principal figures to the point where pools of ink start to deface them, the artist drew a grid across the sheet. This technique helped him enlarge the design to the dimensions it would have in the print.

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James Gillray

An Old English Gentleman Pester'd by Servants Wanting Places

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Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

James Gillray (British, 1756-1815)
Study for An Old English Gentleman Pester’d by Servants Wanting Places, ca. 1809
Pen and ink and brush and wash on laid paper squared for transfer
18.6 x 22.9 cm (7 5/16 x 9 inches) (sheet)
Jesse Metcalf Fund 76.170

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