James Gillray
Collections record: P.284-1948
1757-1815
A Family of Sans Culotts refreshing after the fatigues of the day
Etching with hand colouring 1792
This caricature was inspired by news in London of the September Massacres in Paris (2-6 September 1792). Victims of the massacres are devoured by the sharp-toothed, cannibalistic monsters the revolution had brought into existence. The world has been turned upside down and the lowest in society rule - or in this case, eat - the highest. Gillray was also clearly enjoying taking the stereotype of the revolutionaries projected by anti-radicals in England to the extreme.
Given by Lady Violet Beaumont, 1948 (P.284-1948)
