A guardian angel is carrying a child up into the sky to an altar dedicated to a parody of the Virgin. Etching by James Gillray, 1805.

  • Gillray, James, 1756-1815.
Date:
April 22d. 1805
Reference:
36279i
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view A guardian angel is carrying a child up into the sky to an altar dedicated to a parody of the Virgin. Etching by James Gillray, 1805.

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Credit

A guardian angel is carrying a child up into the sky to an altar dedicated to a parody of the Virgin. Etching by James Gillray, 1805. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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About this work

Description

In Peters's version the guardian angel had been a portrait of Isabella, Duchess of Rutland. In Gillray's version it is Mrs Fitzherbert, wife of King George IV. The child in Gillray's version is Mary (Minney) Seymour (b. 23 Nov. 1798), whose guardianship was disputed between Mrs Fitzherbert and the Seymour family. Below them is the Brighton Pavilion

Publication/Creation

London (St. James's Street) : H. Humphrey, April 22d. 1805.

Physical description

1 print : etching ; image 35.7 x 25.7 cm

Lettering

The guardian angel, - the hint taken from the Revd. M. Peter's sublime idea of having "an angel conducting the soul of a child to heaven". Js. Gillray inv.& ft.

References note

British Museum, Catalogue of political and personal satires, vol. VIII, London 1947, no. 10389

Reference

Wellcome Collection 36279i

Creator/production credits

A parody of a composition by the Rev. Matthew William Peters, which had been published as a stipple print in 1784

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