Harpyes Defiling the Feast
This is the third of six prints from the New Pantheon of Democratic Mythology portraying Whig statesmen as figures from popular mythology; in this case (from left to right) George Tierney, George Shuckburgh-Evelyn, and Joseph Jekyll as harpies. For more about the series in general, see my commentary on the frontispiece to the New Pantheon of Democratic Mythology.
© Trustees of the British Museum
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In Greek and Roman mythology, the harpies were half human and half bird, usually portrayed as ravenous females, who if they didn't outright steal food from their victims would sully it so thoroughly as to render it inedible. In Harpyes Defiling the Feast Gillray portrays the three Whigs as disgusting harpies vomiting and/or defecating upon a feast of iconic British fare: roast beef, plum-pudding, and a foaming tankard of (most likely) ale.
In 1799 the Whigs were reaching new lows in popularity. Recent events, including their previous support for the now confessed traitor, Arthur O'Connor, and their seeming willingness to sue for for peace with France on French terms, had all conspired to make them seem deeply unpatriotic. Gillray had recently portrayed Jekyll (along with Lansdowne) lamenting Nelson's victory at the Battle of the Nile (Nelson's Victory, or Good-News Operating upon Loyal Feelings (10/03/1798). And he had included Tierney and Shuckburgh dressed in official French robes in French Habits (May 15, 1798). But in this print he ratchets up the attack (and a corresponding level of disgust) by portraying them as vicious, sub-human monsters attacking the symbols of cherished British values ("John Bull's Comfort,").
Sources and Reading
- Commentary from the British Museum on Harpyes Defiling the Feast.
- Draper Hill, Mr. Gillray The Caricaturist, 1965, p. 81n
- "Harpy," Wikipedia
- "Joseph Jekyll," Wikisource
- "George Shuckburgh-Evelyn," Wikipedia
- "George Tierney," Wikipedia
- Thomas Wright and R.H. Evans, Historical and Descriptive Account of the Caricatures of James Gillray #233
- Thomas Wright and Joseph Grego, The Works of James Gillray, the Caricaturist; With the History of His Life and Times, p. 259
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