Patriots Amusing Themselves; or Swedes Practising at a Post was first published in 1792 by Hannah Humphrey.
The print satirically links British Whig politicians to the recent assassination of King Gustavus III of Sweden and depicts prominent members of the Whig opposition as "patriots" engaged in a violent target practice that suggests regicide.
James Fox is kneeling on the right. He is shown firing a blunderbuss point-blank at a wooden post. He wears a slouch hat inscribed with "CA-IRA," a famous French Revolutionary song, signaling his radical sympathies.The target is a wooden post that roughly resembles the back view of King George III. It is topped with a wig and a hunting cap bearing the royal arms. A bull's-eye is drawn on a round protrusion meant to simulate the King's posterior.
Richard Brinsley Sheridan is standing behind Fox. He is seen ramming a pistol. He expresses delight at the "new game," hoping to "pop the post".
Joseph Priestley, the pro-revolutionary philosopher stands next to Sheridan, offering books titled "on the Glory of Revolution" and "on the Folly of Religion & Order" to be used as wadding for the firearms.
The secondary title, "or Swedes Practising at a Post," refers to the assassination of King Gustavus III of Sweden by a group of aristocratic conspirators in March 1792. By drawing this parallel, Gillray suggests that the British Whigs’ support for revolutionary ideals (specifically those from France) made them potential traitors or regicides who "amused themselves" with fantasies of overthrowing their own monarch.
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".
