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Cicero in Catilinam

James Sayers British
Publisher Thomas Cornell British
March 17, 1785
Not on view
In November 1784, a year after King George III appointed him chief minister, William Pitt faced a general election that secured his claim to office. Here, he stands before the House of Commons, addressing his bitter rivals, Charles James Fox and Frederick Lord North, who squirm with anger at being forced onto Parliament’s Opposition Benches. Fox demonstrates disrespect by wearing his hat and chewing his fingers. North scowls and buries his head in papers. The printmaker expresses his admiration through the title which compares the youthful Pitt to Cicero, a statesman who preserved the Roman Republic by suppressing a coup d’état led by the patrician Catiline. Sayers has brilliantly reduced the complex rivalries driving British politics to a dynamic among three figures. Expressively, densely etched lines set the scene in a half-light suggestive of moral darkness.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Cicero in Catilinam
  • Artist: James Sayers (British, 1748–1823)
  • Publisher: Thomas Cornell (British, active 1780–92)
  • Published in: London
  • Date: March 17, 1785
  • Medium: Etching
  • Dimensions: plate: 13 7/16 x 11 1/4 in. (34.2 x 28.6 cm)
    sheet: 14 1/8 x 11 15/16 in. (35.8 x 30.3 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1917
  • Object Number: 17.3.888-29
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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