The great South Sea caterpillar, transformed into a Bath Butterfly

Primary Artist

James Gillray (1757–1815)

Title

The great South Sea caterpillar, transformed into a Bath Butterfly

Date made

1795

Category

Print

Print type

intaglio

Technique

etching, printed in black ink, from one copper plate; with hand-coloured later?

Text printed from matrix

Printed upper right within image, 'Pubd. July 4th. 1795 by H. Humphrey, No. 37 New Bond Street.'. Printed lower left below image, 'J.G Printed title below image, ' The great South Sea Caterpillar, transformed into a Bath Butterfly.'.

Matrix size

31.4 x 24.4 cm (plate-mark)

Edition information

2nd edition of 1847

Production notes

The hand-colouring of this print is not contemporanious.

Subject category

Australia, Art period: Colonial, Caricature

Subject description

Caricature of Sir Joseph Banks as a butterfly with his Order of the Bath on his chest and the British crown as the sun.

Country of context

Australia

Legacy id

104101

Creators

Gillray, James. | (1757–1815) English | Male | artist

Humphrey, Hannah. | (1745–1818) English | Female | publisher

Bohn, Henry G. | (1796–1884) Male | publishers

Last Updated

11 Jan 2013

Impressions

Collection

National Gallery of Australia | 85.1700A

State

published state

Impression

undesignated impression, with later hand-colouring

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