The Age of Caricature: Satirical Prints in the Reign of George III (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art)

William Pitt commissioned them. Alexander Pope collected them. The Prince of Wales bribed their makers to stop them from being produced. Not even the most respected and sharp-penned political cartoonist of our time wields the influences, or, it could be argued, possesses the artistic skills of the satirical engravers of England in the 18th century who elevated caricature to the level of high art. Diana Donald, a professor of art history at Manchester Metropolitan University in England, illuminates the art and meaning of more than 200 etchings by the top practitioners of the day (Rowlandson, Gillray, the Cruikshank brothers) as well as less-skilled amateurs and professionals who were popular once but are now mostly forgotten.