Satire Collection

HOGARTH: GIN LANE. Beer Street and Gin Lane. Steel engraving, c1860, after the original by William Hogarth (1697-1764)

HOGARTH: BEER STREET. Beer Street and Gin Lane. Steel engraving, c1860, after the original by William Hogarth

Poster advertising the D Oyly Carte Opera Company, famous for its Gilbert and Sullivan operetta productions. Pictured are scenes from The Gondoliers, The Mikado and The Yeomen of the Guard

Man riding on a steam rocket
The Flight of Intellect. A comic image of a thin man riding on a steam rocket, with his top hat flying off behind him. Portrait of Mr Golightly experimenting on Mess Quick & Speeds new patent high

NAPOLEON CARTOON, 1805. The Plumb-pudding in danger; - or State Epicures taking un Petit Souper. Satirical etching, 1805, by James Gillray a propos of a peace overture from Napoleon

Duke Wellington / Paul Pry
DUKE OF WELLINGTON British General and Statesman Known as the Iron Duke A Wellington Boot - Satire

Thomas Nast cartoon about Boss Tweed corruption
" Who stole the peoples money? Twas him" cartoon about Tammany Hall scandal, 1871. Hand-colored woodcut reproduction of a Thomas Nast cartoon

William Hogarth Gin Lane
Vintage engraving of showing a scene from William Hogarths Beer Street and Gin Lane. They depict the evils of the consumption of gin as a contrast to the merits of drinking beer

Gin Juggarnath, 1835
The Gin Juggarnath, or the Worship of the Great Spirit of the age : a satire on gins apparent grip on British life in the early nineteenth century

Charles Darwin
CHARLES DARWIN satire : Man is but a worm

Los Caprichos by Francisco de Goya (1746-1828)
Francisco de Goya (1746-1828). Spanish painter and printmaker. Los Caprichos. Lo que puede un sastre! (What can a tailor!). Number 52. Aquatint. 1799. Reproduction by M. Segui i Riera

The Gentleman Who Asked the Carver - H. M. Bateman
The Gentleman who asked the carver at Simpson s-in-the-Strand whether the meat was English or foreign. A curious and innocent question from a diner at the famous English restaurant causing more than

HOGARTH: FALSE PERSPECTIVE. Satire on False Perspective. (Whoever makes a design, without the knowledge of perspective)
HOGARTH: FALSE PERSPECTIVE. Satire on False Perspective. (Whoever makes a design, without the knowledge of perspective, will be liable to such absurdities as are shown in this print)

Suffragettes - Christmas Dinner in Holloway by Lawson Wood
Four portly prison officers and policemen force feed a handcuffed suffragette Christmas pudding from the police buffet trolley in Holloway Prison. Date: 1912

William Hogarth Four Times of the Day - Morning
Vintage engraving of showing a scene from William Hogarths Four Times of the Day. They are humorous depictions of life in the streets of London, the vagaries of fashion

William Hogarth The Analysis of Beauty, Plate 1
Vintage engraving of William Hogarth The Analysis of Beauty, Plate 1. The Analysis of Beauty is a book written by the 18th-century artist and writer William Hogarth, published in 1753

Protestant Reformation. Satire against Martin Luther (1483
Protestant Reformation. 16th century. Germany. Satire against Martin Luther (1483-1546). Colored engraving

Cartoon, Mermaids and U-Boats, WW1
Cartoon, Mermaids and U-Boats. Two mermaids and two fish are disturbed by a German U-boat which has a face like a shark. Date: 1917

Female jockeys riding gentlemen like horses
Two women jockeys with riding crops, spur on their steeds - not horses, but top-hatted and tailed gentlemen who wear bridles in their mouths

Science / Gillray Satire
New Discoveries in Pneumaticks! A satire on the Royal Institution: Thomas Young experiments on Hippisley, Humphry Davy at the bellows, Rumford by the door

Irish gentleman in a whisky bar in Dublin prison, 1821
Irish gentleman in Croftons whisky and beer bar in Dublin prison, 1821. Bankrupt Brian Boru with his friends in the taproom drinking with criminals and debtors. The Tap in Sheriffs Prison

Someone Drops a Sixpence Near Somerset House - HM Bateman
H.M. Bateman had a particular loathing for the taxman as exemplified in this cartoon showing the inhabitants of Somerset House (then the home of the Inland Revenue)

The Income Tax Official in Hades by H. M. Bateman
A tax man from the Inland Revenue suffering his worst nightmare - locked in a cage suspended over a pile of cheques and money he cannot reach. Cartoon by H. M

Awful changes cartoon
Satirical pen and ink cartoon by Henry T De la Beche c.1830, depicting Charles Lyell (centre) as Professor Ichthyosaurus

Rejected by the inventions board
" Rejected by the inventions board. VII -The Gallipoli Shell-Diverter for returning the Enemys Fire" There were other theatres of war besides he Western Front

London going out of town -- the expansion of London
London going out of town, or, The March of Bricks & Mortar -- Cruikshanks cartoon comment on the expansion of London

Medical Vaccination
THE COW POCK or, the Wonderful Effects of the new Inoculation - satire on Jenners treatment

Cartoon of Winston Churchill, British statesman
A cartoon depiction of Winston Churchill, British statesman and historian

Charles Darwin with a lookalike ape
Charles Darwin holding up a hand mirror to an ape, showing how alike the pair of them are

Luxury, or the Comforts of a Rum p ford. After an etching by Charles Williams dated circa 1801. The picture is a satire on an advertisement for Rumford stoves

The Sleeping Congregation, William Hogarth
Vintage engraving of The Sleeping Congregation, William Hogarth. Interior of a church where the congregation sleeps as the clergyman reads from the gospel

A Subtle Competition by H. M. Bateman, golfing fashion
Cartoon by the master of social satire, H. M. Bateman showing two men in competition to wear a series of increasingly outrageous golf outfits

HOGARTH: FOUR TIMES OF DAY. Noon. Steel engraving after the etching and engraving, 1738, by William Hogarth

HOGARTH: FOUR TIMES OF DAY. Night. Steel engraving after the original, 1738, by William Hogarth

Ladies Football, 1894
The lady footballers: an anticipation. The Sketch anticipates the brave new world of women footballers: a good looking goalkeeper recieves much attention

Market Reports - English Country Squire carves the beef
Market Reports illustrated (Postcard series): MEAT: " English beef was in fine condition." This report on English beef (as a commodity traded on the Stock Exchange)

Satire on Phrenology
Satire on the study of Phrenology - a Free Knowledgey - illustrating the worst elements of human behavious illustrated in different zones of the head (including Obscene Language, criminal activity)

Smoking club, 18th century artwork. The practice of smoking tobacco was popularised in England and Ireland in the 1580s and 1590s by the English soldier and explorer Sir Walter Raleigh (c.1552-1618)

The Five ALLs - John Kay
Satirical cartoon by Scottish caricaturist John Kay (1742-1826) entitled The Five All s, depicting five characters and their interpretations of their reltion to All

South Sea Bubble / 1721
THE SOUTH-SEA BUBBLE A satire on Mr. Knight, the cashier of the South -Sea Company, who fled the country as the situation became too hot

Art / Hogarth / The Times
THE TIMES 1 of 2 a satire on political rivalry between the Pitt and Temple factions

Art / Hogarth / Roast Beef
THE GATE OF CALAIS, OR, O THE ROAST BEEF OF OLD ENGLAND a satire on the well-fed English versus the poorly- fed French

Programme design, Gilbert & Sullivan, Princess Ida, Savoy Theatre, London. A respectful operatic perversion of Tennysons " Princess" in Three Acts. circa 1880s

To the Public Danger
Humorous scene by Lawson Wood (1878-1957) showing policemen chasing a gentleman in a futuristic flying machine along a main road. Satire on flying which was in infancy

Surgery Cures Stupidity
SATIRE:RESULTS OF ETHER - surgery as a cure-all: young mans stupidity cured by replacing straw head- stuffing with a brain!

Cartoon of Kaiser Bill in the Bath Tub with the caption He Wont be Happy Till He Gets It

Victorian satirical cartoon capitalism and the middleman
Vintage engraving of a victorian satirical cartoon, 19th Century. The Satires of Cynicus. capitalism and the middleman

Cartoons, The Great Chartist Demonstration -- No. IX, The Beginning and the End. 1848

William Hogarth Characters and Caricatures
Vintage engraving of William Hogarth Characters and Caricatures. Critics had sometimes dismissed the exaggerated features of Hogarths characters as caricature and, by way of an answer

Cartoon, Britannia between Scylla & Charybdis, or, the Vessel of the Constitution steered clear of the Rock of Democracy, and the Whirlpool of Arbitrary Power, by James Gillray

Cartoon, The Dropped Pilot, WW1
Cartoon, The Dropped Pilot, twenty-four years after Tenniel. In Tenniels Dropping the Pilot cartoon of 1890 Kaiser Wilhelm II watches as Bismarck disembarks from the ship (of state)

GERMANY: KULTURKAMPF, 1875. Pope Pius IX moving his game piece, the encyclical Quod nunquam, against Otto von Bismarcks anti-clerical moves on the chessboard of Kulturkampf. German cartoon, 1875

SECOND AFGHAN WAR, 1878. Save Me From My Friends! Amir Sher Ali of Afghanistan endeavors to stand between the Russian bear and the British lion as each eyes the other with suspicion

REMINGTON: FRONTIERSMEN. I took ye for an Injin. Drawing, 1890, by Frederic Remington

The kill at a Victorian fox hunt
The horrible aftermath of the kill at a Victorian fox hunt, with the hounds tearing pieces from the corpse and a jubilant huntsman dancing a jig with the unfortunate foxas brush

Anti-Poor Law poster c. 1834 showing the interior of an English workhouse under the new laws Date: c. 1834

A Run of Luck; Monkeys playing billiards, snooker or pool dressed as humans Date: 1870

Barber-surgeons, satirical artwork
Barber-surgeons. Satirical artwork depicting barber-surgeons and their patients as monkeys. At bottom, the barber role is being performed, while at top the surgical and medical roles are shown

Cartoon, Queen Victorias Christmas, A Vision (based on Dickens story, A Christmas Carol). Gladstone as Scrooge sleeps while Disraeli (who had died five years earlier)

Witches Sabbath by Francisco de Goya
Francisco de Goya (1746-1828). Spanish romantic painter. Witches Sabbath, 1821-1823. Detail. Prado Museum. Madrid. Spain

Prohibition -The vision 1920
In these days even " Spirits" have their " Ghost". Satire in a British periodical, depicting Uncle Sam thinking about when alcohol was freely available

CARTOON: CUBISM, 1913. Seeing New York with a Cubist - The Rude Descending a Staircase (Rush Hour at the Subway). Cartoon from The Evening Sun, 20 March 1913

The Physician Curing Fantasy. Anonymous engraved French broadsheet of the 17th century
BROADSHEET, 17th CENTURY. The Physician Curing Fantasy. Anonymous engraved French broadsheet of the 17th century, an amusing travesty on the idea that wisdom can be imbibed

The horse America throwing his master. An English satirical cartoon of 1779 predicting the outcome of the American
CARTOON: OUTCOME, 1779. The horse America throwing his master. An English satirical cartoon of 1779 predicting the outcome of the American Revolutionary War

U. s. Grant Cartoon, 1880
U.S. GRANT CARTOON, 1880. American cartoon by Joseph Keppler from Puck Magazine, 1880, attacking the corruption of the Grant administration and opposing a third presidential term

HOGARTH: CRUELTY, 1751. The Four Stages of Cruelty. First Stage of Cruelty. Engraving after the etching, 1751, by William Hogarth

Irish Home Rule cartoon
Conservative Party political cartoon with ex Prime Minister Arthur James Balfour talking to Henry Campbell-Bannerman about Irish Home Rule, 1906 Date: 1906

ANTI-RUSSIAN MAP, 1904. A Humorous Diplomatic Atlas of Europe and Asia. Japanese propaganda handbill of 1904 portraying Russia as a grasping octopus

Alfred Adler, Austrian psychiatrist
Alfred Adler (1870-1937), Austrian psychologist. Adler was a contemporary of Sigmund Freud, and was invited by him to join the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society

Animal magnetism, satirical artwork
Animal magnetism. Satirical artwork depicting a patient and animal magnetism practitioner with animal heads. Animal magnetism was developed by the German physician Franz Mesmer (1734-1815)

Dentistry, satirical artwork
Dentistry. Satirical artwork titled Without Effort, showing a dentist and his assistant removing a patients tooth in a public display area

Medical prescription, satirical artwork
Medical prescription. Satirical artwork titled Of Prescribing Foolishly, showing a patient in bed with a doctor in a fools hat (right) holding aloft a proposed treatment

JAY GOULD CARTOON, 1882. An 1882 cartoon by Frederick Burr Opper of Wall Street as Jay Goulds private bowling alley

ANTI-TRUST CARTOON, 1879. The Modern Colossus of (Rail) Roads. American cartoon by Joseph Keppler, 1879, attacking the railroad trust formed by William Henry Vanderbilt (top), Cyrus W

Napoleons skull
Satirical French postcard from 1903 depicting Napoleons laughing skull. Sadly, the exact meaning of this rather grim image is not shared

Cartoon impression of the Russo-Japanese War 3 of 5
Card 3 of 5 - The Wrestlers. A cartoon interpretation of the Russo-Japanese war, acted out by the principal ruling individuals from the International Community

Tulipomania Satire 1637
Satire on Dutch tulipomania

Man falling off a broken chair at a dinner party causing a servant to spill a soup tureen over him. Other guests shocked, servants amused. More Miseries

September - Cockney Sportsmen
A group of Cockney sportsmen, out in the wilds of east London, causing chaos as they try to shoot birds. Even their retrieving dogs would rather fight amongst themselves

(The Morning After of a Faun) Le Lendemain d un Faune (or, What an Afternoon ) - The Great success of the new ballet L Apres-Midi d un Faune in which the faun, failing to abduct the nymph herself

Victorian satirical cartoon, He shall have little for his pains
Vintage engraving of a Victorian satirical cartoon on the Art Dealer. He shall have little for his pains, Who makes his living by his brains

Art philistines by H. M. Bateman
" Excuse me, sir, but if you like you can come and paint our cottage - the roses are looking lovely now." A modern artist looks infuriated at the suggestion he might paint something pretty

Lutheran satirical print against the sale of indulgences by
Protestant Reformation. 16th century. Germany. Lutheran satirical print against the sale of indulgences by the papacy. Colored engraving

Satires by Juvenal
Juvenal (Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis). 1st - 2nd centuries AD. Roman poet. Satires. Start of the First Satire. Leyden, 1532

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"Satire: A Timeless Art of Social Commentary" From William Hogarth's iconic prints Gin Lane and Beer Street, to James Gillray's biting political cartoons, it has long been a powerful tool for social commentary. These artists used their craft to expose the vices and follies of society with sharp wit and clever imagery. In Gin Lane, Hogarth vividly portrays the devastating effects of alcoholism on individuals and communities. The chaotic scene serves as a cautionary tale against excessive drinking, highlighting the dark underbelly of London's gin craze in the 18th century. Meanwhile, Beer Street presents a stark contrast - an idyllic vision of moderation and prosperity. By juxtaposing these two prints, Hogarth satirically critiques societal choices while advocating for responsible consumption. Moving forward in time, we encounter Gillray's Napoleon Cartoon from 1805. This satirical etching humorously depicts Napoleon Bonaparte and British Prime Minister William Pitt carving up the world like a plumb pudding during peace negotiations. Through this exaggerated portrayal, Gillray mocks both leaders' hunger for power at the expense of global stability. Satire is not limited to politics alone; it also tackles technological advancements like man riding on a steam rocket or advertisements such as D'Oyly Carte Opera Company poster. These works playfully poke fun at society's fascination with progress or consumerism. Even centuries ago, satire was employed by artists like Charles Williams who parodied an advertisement for Rumford stoves in Luxury or Comforts of a Rum p ford. By exaggerating its benefits through colorful caricatures, Williams exposes how easily people can be swayed by marketing tactics. The Serio-Comic War Map For The Year 1877 takes satire into geopolitical realms by comically mapping out international conflicts during that period. It highlights absurdities within war strategies while reminding viewers that behind every conflict lie real human lives affected by political decisions.