Studies of Four Englishmen, after James Gillray

Studies of Four Englishmen, after James Gillray

Eugène Delacroix

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The scope of Delacroix’s copying far exceeded conventional sources. His early involvement with graphic satire—he produced sixteen satirical prints between 1814 and 1822—led him to look toward the rich tradition of English caricature. Following the end of the Napoleonic Wars, English prints circulated more freely in France and became especially popular among the liberal middle class. This drawing unites figures from four different prints by James Gillray, including an example on view in this case, which shows the Whig statesman Charles James Fox making a speech to the House of Commons.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Studies of Four Englishmen, after James GillrayStudies of Four Englishmen, after James GillrayStudies of Four Englishmen, after James GillrayStudies of Four Englishmen, after James GillrayStudies of Four Englishmen, after James Gillray

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.