Posting in Scotland
Gillray here satirically suggests that Scotland remained wild and uncultivated in the early nineteenth century. A clumsy post-chaise loses it front wheels while traveling through a moorland landscape, tossing its occupant through the front window. This is hardly surprising since the chaise is pulled by the ill-matched team of horse and donkey whose traces are made of rough rope rather than leather. A barking dog has precipitated the accident, the companion to a shepherd lying in the foreground. All of the Scotsmen in the image are shown bare-footed and wearing apron-like kilts that bare their posteriors, a visual joke that makes literal the supposition that Scotsmen wear no undergarments under their kilts.
Artwork Details
- Title: Posting in Scotland
- Artist: James Gillray (British, London 1756–1815 London)
- Artist: After Charles Loraine Smith (British, 1751–1835)
- Publisher: Hannah Humphrey (British, ca. 1745–1819)
- Date: May 25, 1805
- Medium: Hand-colored etching and aquatint
- Dimensions: Sheet: 11 7/8 × 14 15/16 in. (30.1 × 38 cm)
- Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Gift of Jill Spalding, 2022
- Object Number: 2022.309.10
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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Multiple artists/makers
June 13, 1781
Multiple artists/makers
[1830]
James Gillray
June 19, 1780
Multiple artists/makers
after April 1785
James Gillray
Hannah Humphrey
July 16, 1805
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