Supplementary-Militia, turning out for Twenty Days Amusement, 25 November 1796
Scope and Contents
By James Gillray. A grotesque body of tradesmen etc march in close formation, with fixed bayonets. They wear military coats and crossed bandoliers with very unsoldierly foot-gear and appurtenances. Their leader (right) marches in profile to the right, a very short and fat butcher in over-sleeves wearing a feathered cocked hat above his butcher's cap, a military sash (from which hangs his steel) over an apron. He carries a banner on which St. George is killing the dragon. The front rank consists of (left to right): a cobbler wearing an apron, with the twisted shins known as cheese-cutters, and tattered stockings; a bricklayer, with thick gouty legs, a trowel thrust through his apron-string; an artist, his palette inscribed 'R.A', very thin and with a grotesquely thin neck; his toes project through a tattered boot of fashionable shape; a tailor with shears and tape-measure, a hairdresser with scissors and combs wearing a fashionable stock. On the left of this front rank a dwarfish drummer, an old campaigner with two wooden legs and one eye, beats his drum. Behind, the men recede in perspective, densely packed together. Description from the British Museum.
Dates
- Creation: 25 November 1796
Conditions Governing Access
Available by appointment in our Reading Room
Extent
1 Item(s)
Language of Materials
English
Repository Details
Part of the Special Collections and Archives Repository
Western Bank Library
University of Sheffield
Western Bank
Sheffield South Yorkshire S10 2TN United Kingdom
+44 (0) 114 222 7299
lib-special@sheffield.ac.uk