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The Pigs Possessed:–or–the Broad Bottom'd Litter Running Headlong into Ye Sea of Perdition

April 18, 1807
Not on view
King George III appears as an angry farmer driving overfed pigs over a cliff. These pigs have the faces of Whig politicians and have weakened the nation by their greedy pursuit of government posts. Farmer George (the king’s nickname in real life) uses his foot to prod from office the playwright-politician Richard Brinsley Sheridan, who is clad as a Harlequin. The ousted chief minister, William Grenville, floats in the foreground wearing a yellow suit while resting one trotter on a bill for Catholic Emancipation, the defeat of which helped bring down his ministry. Gillray borrowed his imagery from the Gospel of Mark (5:1-20) where Jesus casts a legion of demons out of a possessed man and into a herd of swine, which then runs into the Sea of Galilee. King George is thus presented as the nation’s savior, and the defeated Whigs as devils.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Pigs Possessed:–or–the Broad Bottom'd Litter Running Headlong into Ye Sea of Perdition
  • Artist: James Gillray (British, London 1756–1815 London)
  • Publisher: Hannah Humphrey (British, ca. 1745–1819)
  • Subject: Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth (British, Holborn 1757–1844 London)
  • Subject: George Nugent Temple Grenville, 1st Marquess of Buckingham
  • Subject: John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford (British, 1766–1839)
  • Subject: Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle
  • Subject: John Courtenay (British, 1741–1816)
  • Subject: Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby (British, 1752–1834)
  • Subject: Edward Law 1st Baron Ellenborough (British, 1750–1818)
  • Subject: Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Erskine (British, 1750–1823)
  • Subject: Right Hon Richard Fitzpatrick (Anglo-Irish, 1747–1813)
  • Subject: George III, King of Great Britain and Ireland (British, London 1738–1820 Windsor)
  • Subject: William Wyndham Grenville, Baron Grenville (British, 1759–1834)
  • Subject: Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (British, Northumberland 1764–1845 Northumberland)
  • Subject: Henry Richard Fox Vassall, 3rd Baron Holland (British, 1773–1840)
  • Subject: James Maitland, 8th Earl of Lauderdale (British, 1759–1839)
  • Subject: Francis Rawdon Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings and 2nd Earl of Moira (British, 1754–1826)
  • Subject: Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (British, 1780–1863)
  • Subject: John Jervis, Earl of St. Vincent (British, 1735–1823)
  • Subject: Richard Brinsley Sheridan (Irish, Dublin 1751–1816 London)
  • Subject: George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer (British, 1758–1834)
  • Subject: George Tierney (British, 1761–1830)
  • Subject: Samuel Whitbread II (British, 1764–1815)
  • Subject: William Windham (British, 1750–1810)
  • Subject: Richard Grenville, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Chandos (British, 1776–1839)
  • Date: April 18, 1807
  • Medium: Hand-colored etching
  • Dimensions: plate (trimmed at bottom): 16 1/8 x 11 7/8 in. (41 x 30.2 cm)
    sheet: 16 1/4 x 12 1/8 in. (41.3 x 30.8 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1917
  • Object Number: 17.3.888-79
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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