James Gillray, detail from Taking Physick, 1792. The British Museum, London.

Studio of John Bacon (1740-99), Bust of George III, c 1788, marble, Private Collection

Yes, this is the right answer! These images both represent
King George III (1738-1820)

The image on the right is a formal portrayal of King George III, who came to the throne in 1760 and ruled for almost all of Gillray's life. The drapery around the marble bust is intended to give the King the authority of a noble Roman leader. Gillray knew that his caricatures would be seen against such formal and flattering portrayals, and was not afraid wickedly to exaggerate the King's appearance and his behaviour. He frequently suggested that, far from being a brave and noble leader, the King was in fact dull, mean and lacking in courage.

Try the next one

 

James Gillray, detail from The Plumb-Pudding in danger; -or- State Epicures taking un Petit Souper, 1805, hand-coloured etching, Library of Congress

After Antoine Denis Chaudet, Bust of Napoleon, 1807-9, marble, The Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Yes, this is the right answer! These images both represent
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)

Gillray's caricatures present a striking contrast to the official imagery of Napoleon as a gloriously heroic leader, often covered in medals. Gillray never actually saw Napoleon in the flesh; instead he relied on eye-witness accounts, engravings, medals, and busts such as the one on the right. From the time Napoleon seized power in France in 1799, Gillray's caricatures of him became increasingly extreme, as he turned Napoleon into a ridiculously short, black-haired man, raving, ranting, scheming and threatening, dwarfed by his own out-sized clothes as well as by the hugely over-weight Josephine, but also continually wrong-footed by the British.

Try the next one

 

James Gillray, detail from The Political Banditti assailing the Saviour of India, 1786. The British Museum, London

Joseph Nollekens, Bust of Charles James Fox, after 1792. Private Collection

Yes, this is the right answer! These images both represent
Charles James Fox (1749-1806)

These two images both represent Charles James Fox, one of the great political characters of Gillray's day. A member of the Whig party, Fox was an advocate of Parliamentary reform and a prominent exponent of revolutionary principles. The marble bust on the right is one of a relatively large number of formal representations produced by the workshop of a sculptor named Joseph Nollekens; the drapery is intended to give him the dignity of a Roman orator. Gillray, on the other hand, made the most of Fox's paunchy, untidy appearance, swarthy skin and shaggy black eyebrows, as well as his reputation for being a hard-drinking gambler; in the image on the left Fox appears almost mad, but he was in fact a man of extraordinary charm, intelligence and good temper.

Try the next one

 

James Gillray, detail from Cincinnatus in Retirement, 1782. Library of Congress

John Jones after George Romney, detail from Edmund Burke, 1776. By courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London

Yes, this is the right answer! These images both represent
Edmund Burke (1729-97)

On the right is a formal portrait, and on the left a detail from one of Gillray's caricatures of Edmund Burke. Born and educated in Dublin, Burke moved to London and became an extremely influential writer and politician, known in particular for his Reflections on the Revolution in France decrying the effects of the French Revolution which he associated with atheism and regicide. Although Burke was a lifelong Anglican, he was also a fierce supporter of the Irish Catholic cause, which is why Gillray shows him wearing the hat and robes of a Jesuit priest.

Try the next one

 

James Gillray, detail from The Plumb-Pudding in danger; -or- State Epicures taking un Petit Souper, 1805. Library of Congress

James Gillray, detail from The Right Honourable William Pitt, 1789. The British Museum, London

Yes, this is the right answer! These images both represent
William Pitt ('Pitt the Younger') (1759-1806)

This is the only one of the six pairs in this game in which both the 'straight' and the caricatured images were produced by Gillray. Both show William Pitt, who became Prime Minister in 1783-4, before he reached the age of twenty-five. The portrait on the right was commissioned from Gillray by the publisher S.W. Fores, who wanted a serious portrait of the Prime Minister; however, he refused to accept the finished plate, obviously feeling that Gillray's work leant too much towards caricature. The caricature on the left comes from one of Gillray's most famous prints, The Plumb-pudding in Danger, in which Pitt and Napoleon are seen helping themselves to large chunks of a steamed pudding representing Europe.

Try the next one

 

James Gillray, detail from The Charm of Vitu -or- A Cognoscenti Discovering the Beauties of an Antique Terminus, 1794. The New York Public Library

After Thomas Lawrence, detail from Richard Payne Knight. Private Collection

Yes, this is the right answer! These images both represent
Richard Payne Knight (1751-1824)

This pair of images represents Richard Payne Knight, who was a collector and writer particularly known for his book called The Worship of Priapus, 1768, about the god of fertility, whose symbol was the phallus. The print on the right is a reproduction of an especially flattering portrait of Payne Knight by the portrait painter, Thomas Lawrence. On the left is a detail from a pen and ink drawing by Gillray that was sadly never made into a print. It shows Payne Knight as a goofy, ugly man with an interest in the subject matter of his research which was more prurient than academic.

Do you want to start again?