Dood van de Graaf van Chatham 1791

Francesco Bartolozzi created this print, The Death of the Earl of Chatham, sometime near 1778. It depicts the demise of William Pitt the Elder, a celebrated British statesman, within the House of Lords. The scene captures a moment of high drama, but more importantly, it serves as a record of a specific institutional space and the figures who inhabited it. Bartolozzi’s image offers a window into the late 18th-century British political elite. You'll notice the architecture, the clothing, and the arrangement of figures, all of which speak to the formal and performative aspects of power. The print not only commemorates a historical event, but also reinforces the authority and prestige of the British government. As historians, we can look beyond the immediate subject matter and examine the print as a product of its time, using sources such as parliamentary records, personal letters, and other visual representations of political life. By doing so, we gain a more nuanced understanding of the social and institutional contexts in which art is created and consumed.