Original antique engraving by James Gillray. From the Bohn edition of 1851, using Gillray's original copper plates. With later hand colouring.
"John Bull taking a luncheon" was first published on October 24, 1798. This prnt is from the bohn edition of 1851.
The image, also titled "British Cooks, cramming Old Grumble-Gizzard, with Bonne-Chére," celebrates major British naval victories during the French Revolutionary Wars, specifically Horatio Nelson’s victory at the Battle of the Nile (Aboukir Bay).
John Bull is represented as an obese, gluttonous personification of England, seated at a table and greedily devouring a "luncheon" consisting of captured French ships.
Famous British admirals serve as the cooks. Nelson, wearing an apron over his uniform, serves the main course of French ships. Other figures include Admirals Howe, St. Vincent, Warren, Gardner, and Duncan, each offering dishes symbolizing their own naval triumphs.
The table is laid with symbolic dishes such as "Soup and Bouilli" (battered ships), "Dutch Cheese a la Duncan," and "Fricando a la Howe". He washes these down with a large jug of "True British Stout".
Through a window, Whig politicians Charles James Fox and Richard Brinsley Sheridan, who had predicted British defeat, are shown fleeing in distress at the news of the victory.
The cartoon reflects the insatiable appetite of the British public for news of military success. Despite his name "Grumble-Gizzard" (suggesting a habitual complainer), John Bull’s enthusiasm for the "feast" illustrates nationalistic pride and the overwhelming nature of Britain's maritime dominance at the time.
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".
