Cartoon that still cuts it
QUESTION I was told that a recent cartoon of David Cameron and Nicola Sturgeon carving up the UK was a copy of a famous cartoon from history. What was it?
JAMES GILLRAY (1756/7-1815) was the most famous caricaturist of the Georgian period. First apprenticed as an engraver in london, Gillray then studied at the royal academy before attempting to become a conventional artist. But it was in caricature where Gillray found his true calling.
He struck up a relationship with publisher and print seller, miss Hannah Humphrey — whose shop was first at 227 Strand and then 37 new Bond Street.
Unlike modern cartoonists, Gillray did not publish his work in newspapers. Instead, he hung his pictures in the window of miss Humphrey’s premises.
Crowds gathered at the windows to enjoy his depictions of the great and good of the day. If they liked what they saw, customers could buy a copy and take it home. They could even rent pieces for a dinner party to amuse their guests.
Gillray is thought to have published more than 1,000 satires in his lifetime, drawing special attention for his lampooning of George III, the royal Family, napoleon and revolutionary France.
The Plum-pudding In Danger (or ‘state epicures taking un petit souper’) dated February 26, 1805, is perhaps Gillray’s most famous (and most plagiarised) print.
It achieves i ts impact through the simplicity of its design and the brilliant economy with which Gillray captures the political situation of the day.
napoleon Bonaparte and William Pitt sit facing a steaming ‘plum-pudding’ globe, both intent on carving themselves a substantial portion of the world.
Pitt appears calm, meticulous and confident, spearing the pudding with a trident indicative of British naval supremacy. He lays claim to the oceans and the West Indies.
napoleon Bonaparte reaches from his chair with covetous, twitching eyes fixed on the prize of Europe and cuts away France, Holland, Spain, Switzerland, Italy and the mediterranean. Gillray’s great skill as a caricaturist is evident in the exaggeration of Pitt’s skinny physique and napoleon’s beak-like nose: comical devices that would have quickly identified the subjects to his audience by appealing to popular conceptions of the two men.
William Grey, London SW14.
QUESTION I recently found a small bird on the road, that had either fallen out of its nest or taken a test flight. Should I have picked it up and put it somewhere safe or left it alone?
DURING may and june many birds take their first flights from the nest. and many won’t have enough strength in their wing muscles to get very far and often end up on the ground. It is normal for fledglings to remain grounded for a few days as they build up this strength, usually taking shelter in nearby shrubs under the close guidance of their parents.
our advice if you find a fledgling in a road or dangerous situation is to relocate it to a safe place nearby like a hedgerow or garden border, away from the danger but near enough so its parents will be able to hear its calls. Don’t worry about the parent abandoning the fledgling because you have touched it, they recognise their young by their calls rather than their scent. Within a few days these fledgling birds are strong enough to follow their parents around.
Ian Hayward, RSPB, Sandy, Beds.
QUESTION In Jurassic Park, the velociraptors are aggressive man-sized carnivores. Were they actually diminutive herbivores?
FURTHER to the earlier answer, your correspondent correctly stated that the velociraptor was about the size of a turkey.
However, it was part of a group of dinosaurs known as the dromaeosaurids, ‘running lizards’. They varied in size from the one found in Wyoming which was the size of a pigeon, to another, found in Utah, which was 12ft tall and 20ft long.
It is now thought velociraptors were covered in feathers, so the velociraptors of the film accurately describe another dromaeosaurid, the Deinonychus. This was a man-sized animal which scientists believe hunted in packs — as shown in the film.
Stuart Bower, Hove, Sussex. ÷ Is there a question to which you have always wanted to know the answer? Or do you know the answer to a question raised here? Send your questions and answers to: Charles Legge, Answers To Correspondents, Scottish Daily Mail, 20 Waterloo Street, Glasgow G2 6DB. You can also fax them to 0141 331 4739 or you can e-mail them to charles.legge@dailymail.co.uk. A selection will be published but we are not able to enter into individual correspondence.