A Cognoscenti Contemplating the Beauties of the Antique by James Gillray

A Cognoscenti Contemplating the Beauties of the Antique 11 - 1801

hand-colored-etching, print

aged paper

toned paper

hand-colored-etching

print

traditional media

caricature

personal sketchbook

coloured pencil

coffee painting

england

watercolour illustration

cartoon carciture

watercolor

"A Cognoscenti Contemplating the Beauties of Antique" is a satirical print by James Gillray, a British artist known for his political cartoons. Created in 1801, the print depicts a wealthy man, likely a collector of antiquities, examining various objects, including a bust of a woman, a golden bull, and a Roman urn, with a magnifying glass. Gillray uses exaggeration and caricature to critique the wealthy and their perceived obsession with collecting and showcasing their wealth. The print is a commentary on the art market and the changing social values of the late 18th century. The piece is currently housed at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Comments

minneapolisinstituteofart about 1 year ago

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As the dedication states, Gillray was poking fun at William Hamilton, a former British ambassador to Naples. The picture of the erupting volcano alludes both to Hamilton's embassy and his research into Mount Vesuvius. After a 36-year sojourn to Italy, the elderly Hamilton returned to London in 1800 with his young second wife, Lady Hamilton, and her lover, Lord Horatio Nelson, the legendary naval hero. Nelson and the Hamiltons were the subject of much public gossip, as the three lived openly together in England, and Lady Hamilton gave birth to Nelson's child in 1801. In the print, Lady Hamilton is depicted in the guise of Cleopatra, and Nelson is portrayed as Mark Antony. The portrait of Claudius, whose wife was also famously unfaithful, represents Hamilton; the antlers on the frame symbolize cuckoldry. Hamilton's activities as a connoisseur were as renowned as his personal life. He amassed two major collections of antiquities, the first had been sold to the British Museum in 1772. He also collected paintings, selling 334 pictures at auction in 1801, the year of this print. Gillray implies that it was Hamilton's absorption in connoisseurship that distracted him from his wife's affair.