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The American Rattle Snake

April 12, 1782
Not on view
This satirical print, one of Gillray's earliest, centers on a snake–a popular American symbol before the emblematic stars and stripes were devised for the nation's flag. In 1754 Benjamin Franklin had famously designed a woodcut of a dismembered serpent for the Pennsylvania Gazette, accompanied by the legend "unite or die." After the first American congress of 1774, the New York Journal published an image of a living snake curled around a tree of Liberty, with text that stated "united now alive and free." Gillray's image responds to two American victories that helped to secure the outcome of the Revolutionary War. His text makes it clear that he is commenting on General John Burgoyne's surrender at Saratoga, New York on October 7, 1777 and General George Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown, Virginia on October 19, 1781. The coils of the serpent have forced the troops under the command of these two generals to lay down their flags. Text below states "Two British Armies I have thus Burgoyn'd, And room for more I've got behind." A sign hanging from the reptile's tail reads "An Apartment to let for Military Gentlemen," to suggest that the two defeated generals must now be looking for new lodgings.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The American Rattle Snake
  • Artist: Attributed to James Gillray (British, London 1756–1815 London)
  • Publisher: William Richardson (British, active 1778–1812)
  • Subject: General John Burgoyne (British, Bedfordshire 1722–1792 London)
  • Subject: General Charles Cornwallis (British, London 1738–1805 Ghazipur, India)
  • Published in: London
  • Date: April 12, 1782
  • Medium: Etching
  • Dimensions: plate (partly clipped): 8 5/8 x 12 11/16 in. (21.9 x 32.2 cm)
    sheet: 9 7/16 x 12 15/16 in. (23.9 x 32.8 cm)
    Frame: 16 × 21 in. (40.6 × 53.3 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Gift of William H. Huntington, 1883
  • Object Number: 83.2.1041
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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