The Reviewers' Cave
Mortimer's dynamic early pen-work is used here to develop a frontispiece for Lloyd Evans's "The Powers of the Pen: A Poem" (1768), a verse satire aimed at literary critics. The artist also etched the related print, and mined Alexander Pope’s "Dunciad" and "Rape of the Lock" for suitable imagery, with the rocky setting suggested by the latter's "Cave of Spleen." The drawing consists of two sections, with judges seated at right, one in the front row resembling Samuel Johnson, whose pomposity Evans lampoons. As workers bring in bushel baskets of books to be reviewed, a corpulent figure on a dais presides over an assemblage that includes a braying donkey. Above, Dullness lolls on clouds near flayed faces, or masks, hung from cords. At left, Mortimer sketched ideas for the main design. His rare working drawing engages with a distinct British type of visual satire that combines allegory, caricature and visual-verbal punning, a mode that Thomas Rowlandson and James Gillray would take up in the 1780s.
Artwork Details
- Title: The Reviewers' Cave
- Artist: John Hamilton Mortimer (British, Eastbourne 1740–1779 London)
- Date: 1765
- Medium: Pen and gray ink
- Dimensions: Sheet: 11 7/16 × 14 1/4 in. (29 × 36.2 cm)
Mount: 15 1/4 × 19 5/8 in. (38.7 × 49.8 cm) - Classification: Drawings
- Credit Line: Harry G. Sperling Fund, 2018
- Object Number: 2018.49
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
More Artwork
Research Resources
The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.