This is one of a group of figures parodying paintings from John Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery. It shows Bottom, from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, as he was painted by Henry Fuseli. Fuseli's painting was commissioned by John Boydell for his Shakespeare Gallery; it is now in the Tate Collection. Click here to see the picture of it in the Tate Collection section of this website.

Gillray has deliberately chosen a character which, taken out of the context of Shakespeare's play, looks completely ridiculous, as there is no reason why a man with a donkey's head should be floating on a cloud.

Back