Broadsides : caricature and the Navy 1775-1815

Neat little exhibition at the National Maritime Museum looking at how the caricaturists of the late 18th and early 19th centuries portrayed the navy and naval exploits.

The introduction pointed out that broadside means both the simultaneous firing of all guns on one side of a war ship and a sheet of paper printed on one side as advert or satire.

The small gallery was divided into three themes the inequalities of officers and men, Nelson and Lady Hamilton and John Bull and Britannia. It featured pictures by all the main caricaturists of the time including Rowlandson , Gillray and Cruikshank.

I thought it was a really nice touch to have a Steadman cartoon from 1995 at the end to show how the works had influences modern cartoonists.

 

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