The "Bottomless-Pitt" is a satirical print by British caricaturist James Gillray, published on March 16, 1792.
This print is from the 1851 Bohn Edition and this hand-colored etching lampoons Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger, punning on his surname and referencing his slender physique.
The print was produced during a particularly challenging political period for Pitt. Gillray's satire was spurred by a parliamentary debate concerning a British diplomatic and military reversal over the Russian city of Ochakov. The opposition, led by Charles James Fox, repeatedly pressed Pitt for papers detailing the costs of the failed "Russian armament".
The print's title, "The Bottomless-Pitt," offers several layers of interpretation, all at Pitt's expense:
The literal joke:Gillray mocks Pitt's notoriously thin frame by exaggerating the "attenuation of Pitt below the waist," suggesting the prime minister had no "bottom," or backside. In the 18th century, "having bottom" was also an idiom for possessing wealth and political substance.
The political pun:The title suggests that Pitt's financial policies were a "bottomless pit" for taxpayer money. Pitt and his ruling Tories were seen as mismanaging the nation's funds, and the opposition was insistent on obtaining financial details.
A jab at political resilience:Some historians suggest the print is a "backhanded compliment" to Pitt's uncanny ability to defend his ministry and survive threats to his administration, making a "bottomless" pit of arguments to evade scrutiny.
A biblical allusion: The title's religious overtone likens Pitt's situation to a form of hell, enduring insistent and endless demands for information.
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".
