Making Decent. . .

This is one of the earliest of Gillray's numerous portrayals of the new coalition ministry, the Ministry of All the Talents, which came to power after the unexpected death of William Pitt in January of 1806. It was also called the Broad-Bottom ministry because it was headed by William Grenville whose most recognizable feature was his prominent posterior and because it drew from a broad range of factions across the political spectrum, including members of Parliament still loyal to former Prime Minister Henry Addington, followers of Charles James Fox, and supporters of William Grenville.

Making Decent. . .

Making Decent. . . [February 20, 1806]
© Yale University

As Wright and Evans put it, in their commentary on this print, the satiric thrust is remarkably mild and simple:"Gillray represents the New Ministers as having been so long out of office, that they were quite unprepared for appearance at Court." So they must now make themselves "decent." Like Dilettanti-Theatricals, or a Peep at the Green Room (1803), the print is ultimately indebted to Hogarth's Strolling Actresses Dressing in a Barn (1738). All three prints are essentially about preparing for a performance.

But though the concept is unusually simple, the execution is, as so often in Gillray, superb. Every figure is brilliantly defined and caricatured, in most cases by attributes familiar to his viewers, and yet the arrangement seems completely natural. With an established repertoire of easily recognizable caricatures at his disposable, Gillray is the only one who could have carried off this tour de force of caricature.

From left to right, the print shows: Charles Grey (First Lord of the Admiralty) dressed in naval uniform and brushing his teeth; Charles James Fox (Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs) always careless of his appearance but shaving for the occasion and preparing to don the offical Windsor court uniform in place of his old coat and bonnet rouge beneath the chair; former Prime Minister Henry Addington aka Viscount Sidmouth (Lord Privy Seal) engulfed in clouds of hair powder with an identifying clyster-pipe in his pocket; the diminutive Lord Henry Petty (Chancellor of the Exchequer) admiring his new robe; Nicholas VanSittart (Secretary to the Treasury) longtime friend and ally of Addington applying the powder to Addington's wig, William Windham, (Secretary for War and Colonies) bathing his feet; William Grenville (First Lord of the Treasury) strategically positioned in the very center of the print, pulling up his breeches over a conspicuously broad bottom; the ever-upright and erect Earl Moira (Master-General of the Ordnance) tying his military black stock, his bicorne hat forming a kind of pyramid for the central figures; the red-faced and corpulent Richard Brinsley Sheridan (Treasurer of the Navy) putting on his shirt while his more familiar harlequin's motley hangs on the wall behind him; the Duke of Bedford (Lord Lieutenant of Ireland) and George Tierney (President of the Board of Control and M.P. representing Athlone) both pulling on their boots; the Earl Spencer (Secretary of State for the Home Department) washing his hands, and the perennial egotist Thomas Erskine (Lord Chancellor) regarding himself in his own gold-framed mirror with the Purse of the Great Seal at his side. His old barrister's wig on the back wall has been replaced by a new Chancellor's wig. The ceremonial mace leans against the table in front of him.

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