A Keen-Sighted Politician Finding out the British Conquests
This is one of two satiric prints created in May and June 1795 featuring William Wyndham Grenville, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and thus the man immediately responsible for the prosecution of the war with France. He sits at his desk, beneath a picture ironically titled "Britannia Triumphant" staring near-sightedly at a map of "The Globe" squinting to find British victories while ignoring fully half the globe labeled "French Conquests."
© Trustees of the British Museum
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1795 had not been kind to the British army. January had seen the French army under Pichegru capture Amsterdam and most of the Dutch fleet at Den Helder, prompting William V, Prince of Orange to flee to England. Then in April, Prussia (one of the primary members of the First Coalition against France), made a separate peace leaving only Austria and Spain to stand with the English against the French.
Gillray had previously satirized Grenville in A Good Shot, or Billy Ranger the Gamekeeper. . . (1792) as a determined place seeker. The Court Calendar on Grenville's desk, and the picture of "The Treasury" behind him continues that theme. Ultimately, Grenville did reach the Treasury becoming First Lord of the Treasury and Prime Minister in 1806 after the death of William Pitt.
The print is another example of the way Gillray continued to experiment with portrait caricature throughout his career, trying out different arrangements of the central figure—full length, half length, seated, standing, profile, 3/4, full front, full back, sparsely or fully defined location—using the surrounding objects to not only identify but satirize the sitter.
Sources and Reading
- Commentary from the British Museum on A Keen-Sighted Politician Finding out the British Conquests
- "William Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville," Wikipedia
- "Grenville, William Wyndham," Dictionary of National Biography
- "War of the First Coalition," Wikipedia
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