"Britannia between Scylla & Charybdis" was first published on 8 April 1793.
The famous print serves as a direct political commentary on the immense ideological pressures facing Great Britain during the onset of the French Revolutionary Wars. It frames Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger as an Odysseus-like figure navigating the British ship of state through a highly dangerous ideological strait.
The artwork uses classic nautical references from Homer's Odyssey to represent the conflicting geopolitical forces of the era.
A fragile, small sailing boat steered resolutely by Prime Minister William Pitt. Inside the boat sits Britannia, personified as a panicked woman with her hands raised in alarm.
The Rock of Scylla on the left represents the radicalism of Democracy and anarchy inspired by the French Revolution. A large red liberty cap (bonnet-rouge) with a tricolour cockade sits precariously on its peak.
The Whirlpool of Charybdis on the right represents Arbitrary Power and absolute monarchy. The mouth of the violent vortex is shaped as an inverted royal crown ready to swallow all state liberties.
Emerging from the turbulent waters behind the boat are three man-headed sharks representing prominent British Whig opposition leaders and reformists: Charles James Fox, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and Joseph Priestley.
The distant, calm destination Pitt is steering towards, marked by a coastal castle flying a peaceful white flag.
Gillray's print is widely considered by art historians to be one of the finest examples of British political satire. The concept was so powerful that it heavily influenced future commentary and the image was famously echoed in Percy Bysshe Shelley's 1820 political essays, and it was later reimagined by Punch magazine during the American Civil War to depict Britain navigating between Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis.
Gillray was one of five children, and the only one to survive to maturity. In 1770 he was apprenticed to Harry Ashby, a London writing in engraver, and five years later W. Humphrey published a few of Gillray's illustrations including satirical works. By the time Gillray commenced his career satire was old, but personal caricature was in its infancy. Other exponents in this form of art were soon overshadowed by Gillray's superior craftsmanship. His figures were full of vitality, titillating and reflective of some political crisis or private scandal. As his popularity increased so did demand by the public to see more of his work. In the rapidly changing politics of the late18th century he would produce a plate in twenty-four hours. Although sometimes overlooked his speech bubbles were elaborate and Gillray would spend considerable time composing and redrafting the text.
Between 1791 to 1807 his career continued successfully in association with William and Hannah Humphrey. There after Gillray's health began to suffer. He eventually slipped into madness and died shortly before the Battle of Waterloo on June 1st 1815. Hannah, who had a close relationship with him nursed Gillray through out his final years and following his death the copper plates then formed part of Hannah's estate when she died in 1818. The executor's of Hannah's estate sold Gillray's painstakingly worked plates for there second hand copper weight. Hearing of this, the then publisher, Bohn who had previously expressed an interest in buying the plates set about purchasing them from a variety of different sources. Eventually acquiring over 500. In 1851 Bohn republished the engravings in a large folio volume, "The Works of James Gillray".
