James Gillray's the Shrine at St Ann's Hill and The

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James Gillray’s The Shrine at St Ann’s Hill and the Rights of Man

Jørgen Riber Christensen is associate professor of digital aesthetics at Aalborg University.

The Shrine at St Ann’s Hill A formal and content-based analysis of Gillray’s print can be the centre of circles that ripple out to contexts that throw light on both historical and modern attitudes to human rights. The meth- ods of this analysis are selected with this aim in mind. They are from visual semiotics and traditional art history (Barthes, 1964; Christensen, 1991; Kristensen and Christensen, 1989, Arnhe- im, 1954/1974; Panofsky, 1939/1972). First, a formal analysis of the visual language. The composition of the plate is surprisingly discordant as three compositional patterns are in conflict, and they interrupt one another. The image is divided by a vertical line running in the middle; but there is no symmetry, as the left half is dominated by a diagonal shape (the cloud) from the top left corner reaching only halfway down towards the bottom right corner. This diagonal is met by another conflicting diagonal shape (the kneeling figure) from the bottom left corner towards the top right corner. James Gillray, The Shrine at St Ann’s Hill, etching, 36 x 26 cm, published by Hannah Humphrey, Saint James, London, 26 May 1798.

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Volume and the Rights of Man Rights and the 05 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen The Shrine at St Ann’s Hill Hill St Ann’s Shrine at The James Gillray’s Gillray’s James The use of verbal language is prominent in the etching. Here Bar in the etching. Here The use of verbal language is prominent but it is on the same level of significance as the other pictorial ele the altar, on the tablets on found is text of relay part main The ments. also combinations of are etc.; but there “DROITS DE L’HOMME” the image becomes and anchorage as anchorage text inside relay the busts of Robespierre This is the case with the name tags on relay. (sic.) and Napoleon Bonaparte (sic.), and on the book in Fox’s pocket the title “New Constitution” can be seen. Gillray has chosen to an chor the two portrait busts, but not the six winged heads, and not the denotative content. (Barthes 1964) may be employed. thes’ terms anchorage and relay frame picture the outside placed is that text verbal a is Anchorage the audience’s un and which the sender uses to anchor and control Ann’s Hill”, and to at St it is “Shrine derstanding of an image. Here caption it meant James of this anchoring the contemporary reader during his retire Ann’s Hill to which he retired Fox’s house at St. Parliament 1794-1801 (Mitchell 1992). The verbal text ment from As called relay. frame is in Barthes, terminology inside the picture the overall meaning of the image, text does not control such the relay not seem to belong to the room itself, but to some other dimension. itself, but to some other dimension. not seem to belong to the room on figures the on shines that source light a also is vision cloud The or is responded but again this supernatural light source the altar, side of the one shining on the right hand contradicted by another, sombre. and gloomy is itself scene overall The figure. kneeling the Even the construction of the body language of they repeatsfigure atback the from and side the from seen is it as system double this of the formal analysis is thatthe same time. The overall conclusion the visual language in itself has connotations of conflicts and con analysis of the content of the im tradictions. When we turn to an in repeated connotations are age, we may wish to examine if these The composition also has a horizontal form. Just as it was divided also has a horizontal form. Just The composition down (the of a division two-thirds is a semblance there vertically, at the left-handof the altar), but again this is only horizontal lines is also contradictory. spatial organisation The side of the picture. orthog with perspective by linear created is room the Apparently, to meet in a vanishing go into the background onal lines, which butaltar; in the and the masonry in seen can be lines These point. consisting use of this method, and this formal disrup is no there do that cloud the in heads floating the by answered is space of tion quarter

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Volume and the Rights of Man Rights and the 05 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen The Shrine at St Ann’s Hill Hill St Ann’s Shrine at The James Gillray’s Gillray’s James Now the pre-iconographic and the iconographic descriptions willdescriptions the iconographic and pre-iconographic Now the gers, possibly a reference to The Day of Daggers, an event during the gers, possibly a reference 400 Lafayette arrested de Revolution in 1791 when the Marquis parody a the daggers are such As Tuileries. the at aristocrats armed On monarchy. French the of emblem heraldic the fleur-de-lis, the of pedestals. The one in the middle is three are the altar itself there cockade. It is in bonnet and its tricolor with the revolutionary scribed The pedestal is a skull at its base. with EGALITE, and there to the left has two hands nailed to its post and it supports a bust of St Ann’s Hill” depicts Charles James Fox in a stone crypt praying onAnn’s Hill” St of an altar or shrine with emblems of revolutionary his knees in front American and French of the France. Fox was the radical supporter an outspoken opponent of Younger, Revolutions, the rival of Pitt the political achievement and his last III, champion of liberty, George was the abolition of the slave trade in 1807. He was also at the re ceiving end of many satirical prints of Gillray’s, easily recognizable and his unshaven, with his opulence, his characteristic eyebrows, swarthy complexion, the stock emblem of a Jacobin villain. The title of Ann’s Hill. The altar in front to his house at St. of the print refers dag crossed embroidered Fox is draped with a cloth on which are lytical and in it the specific designing of this narrative is interpreted. interpreted. is narrative this of designing specific the it in and lytical image’s visual language and styleThis also entails an analysis of the to its historical subject is related so that this particular version of the of this context, which Panof and functional context and the values philosophical, on “the political, poetical, religious, sky writes rest period or country under and social tendencies of the personality, in As it will appear below, 16). investigation” (Panofsky 1939/1972, Revolution. Britain in the time of the French this case these represent description basically is a ver be combined, as the pre-iconographic Shrine atprint “The image. Gillray’s balization of the subject of the the kneeling James Fox, and this brings us to Panofsky’s icono Fox, and this brings us to Panofsky’s the kneeling James of content of identification about is basically which method, graphic the pre-iconographic, steps in this method: three are images. There 1939/1972, 3-17). and the iconological (Panofsky the iconographic The first is about therecognition of the pure shapes and lines in an real of from objects and figures image as mimetical representations of step in the reception e.g., people or houses. The iconographic ity, elements into a narrative, i.e.an image consists of combining these the subject of the image. The final step, the iconologicalone, is ana quarter

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Volume and the Rights of Man Rights and the 05 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen The Shrine at St Ann’s Hill Hill St Ann’s Shrine at The . However, just as the guillotine on the altar is at thethe on guillotine just as the However, . James Gillray’s Gillray’s James A description of the stylistic features of the etching can be an en description of the stylistic features A understanding of the image as a representation of a religious scene of a religious understanding of the image as a representation Ann”, the latter being the mother of “Shrine” and “St with the words The hanging drapery at the top of the image with Mary. the Virgin belongs to another coding system tassel, however, its prominent icono stable a were draperies of kind this as religious, the than or noble por royal representational graphic element in Baroque traits, reli away from is a stylistic movement and in this way there itself with or room and politics. The location gion to power relations trance to an iconological contextualization that relates it to its spe that relates trance to an iconological contextualization etch the of analysis the in it seen have we As period. historical cific its style. in features discordant also are there language, visual ing’s charac A one. devotional a is depicted situation the surface the On with the Decalogue on of an altar ter is kneeling in a chapel in front Moses’ stone tablets (Exodus 31:18), and the character’s prayer has of heavenly cheru group in the miraculous appearance of a resulted shown as in bim, which in traditional Christian iconography are fants’ heads with one set of wings. The daggers on the cloth may be with this who was martyred attribute of St. Lucy, to the a reference weapon. The anchorage caption of the etching establishes this early we like. IV. Right to work Nine Days in the Week, & do what we Right to work Nine Days in the Week, we like. IV. when Right to honor both Father & Mother, V. please on the Tenth: we VI.find it Right necessary. to Kill. VII. Right to Adul commit we Right IX. to bear what Witness VIII. Right to Plunder. tery. his.”is that all & House Neighbour[s] our covet to Right X. please. top left corner of the image a shaft of celestial light and the From the winged heads of six members clouds descend, and inside it are of Norfolk, Lansdowne, Bedford, of the Foxite opposition, the Duke revolutionary all with French, and Nicholls, Lauderdale Tierney, bonnets. Robespierre, and the pedestal to the right supports a bust of Napo to the right supports a bust and the pedestal Robespierre, blood-drip is a large, the altar there At the back of leon Bonaparte. two tablets, resembling suspended it are from ping guillotine, and the mountain, with the heading from down those Moses brought de l’homme Droits traditional position of a crucifix, the Rights ofMan have been sup of the Decalogue or the Commandments: “I. planted with a parody & bow down II. Right to create whom we please. Right to Worship Name Right to use in vain any III. to any thing we chuse to set up. quarter

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Droit de L’homme Droit Volume and the Rights of Man Rights and the 05 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen The Shrine at St Ann’s Hill Hill St Ann’s Shrine at The is double. First of all they are changed into the Ten changed into the Ten is double. First of all they are James Gillray’s Gillray’s James The immediate context of the image is the British reaction to the The immediate context of the image is the British reaction In its initial movement the rhetorical argumentation of the print argumentation In its initial movement the rhetorical French Revolution, and when this context is widened it becomes Revolution, and when this context French question whether human rightsthe i.e. today, one that resonates as universal or not. The followings pages of the can be regarded article will discuss these two contexts. Revolution British Responses to the French This part of the article will concentrate on the forms of expression Revolution took. Gillray’s to the French that the British responses the exact opposite. In this way the French Revolution is described as French the exact opposite. In this way the selection of what the British Loyal Godless. The altar is a composite is also one of argument The next step in the rhetorical ists abhorred. in this case national as British politicians bow to the transference, with which Britain Revolution and France, excesses of the French trai as described way this in opposition are the Fox and war. at was transfer tors to their nation. The sum of these two argumentative on two counts. They discredited ences is that The Rights of Man are Not to France, only. unchristian, and they belong to the enemy are of the world. Britain or to the rest iconographic setup of the print as well as the stylistic confusion are well as the stylistic confusion are iconographic setup of the print as Rights of Man represent in asserting that the French all instrumental a danger to Britain. of the Rights of Man or the transference on rests one. The setting of the print into a religious sphere a political from body as its anchoring caption says; Fox’s is a shrine with an altar, are and the members of the opposition language is the one of prayer, of the The reformulation in a revelation. as cherubim represented de L’homme Droit saysthat them of travesty a into again then and Commandments, its crude masonry points to yet a third set of connotations as the set of connotations masonry points to yet a third its crude be re This stylistic confusion can is dungeon-like. gloomy room thein etching the of audience the to of eye-opener kind as a garded is to un imperative, and this imperative form of an interpretational context i.e., in its contemporary political derstand it iconologically, language, the style and the iconographic The visual and as satire. they all as transgressive and dynamic all are the image content of their borders. of without regard spheres different between move the and language visual the of both conflicts and contradictions The quarter

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Volume and the Rights of Man Rights and the 05 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen had 1,400 subscribers (Thompson had 1,400 subscribers (Thompson An Address to the Nation from the London to the Nation from An Address Reflections on the Revolution in France The Shrine at St Ann’s Hill Hill St Ann’s Shrine at The Rights of Man James Gillray’s Gillray’s James from 1793 demanded that “equal Representation obtained by 1793 demanded that “equal Representation from The pamphlet warfare’s perhaps most eloquent expression was most eloquent expression perhaps The pamphlet warfare’s Corresponding Society, on the Subject of a Thorough Parliamentary Re on the Subject of a Thorough Society, Corresponding form (Reprintedadopted was Suffrage” Universal and Elections Annual in Dickinson 1974, 194-197). On the revolution. and it abhorred opposed to constitutional reform surface Edmund Burke’s as against revolutions 1790 is a powerful collection of arguments and documents of the period. There were the pamphlets for the were of the period. There and documents and extra-par in Britain, and for political reform Revolution French Societies cen in Corresponding liamentary publicness was founded tred in London, Norwich, Sheffield and which Manchester, held revolu and with French with each other meetings, corresponded itAs newspapers. weekly and published pamphlets and tionaries, these of pamphlet important most the places, other many in was was also printed by the Sheffield Society. Here thefirst partof Thomas Paine’s less classical pamphlets modest and 1963/1974, 164); but also more instance For circulated. were aristocrats of landed property that was in power (Cole 1938/1971, aristocrats of landed property with Dickinson 1974, 146).When this demand was combined 110; in expressed for instance, were thoughts as they, the revolutionary the first article of Declaration of the Rights of Man: “Men are born became for and equal in rights”, this demand soon free and remain and sometimes this demand was not limited to universal suffrage, Ann’s Hill” from Gillray’s “The Shrine at St universal male suffrage. and its Revolution to the French as late as 1798 is a graphic response as just is etching satirical this see shall we as but Man, of Rights at the internal British political situation, and this much directed again and again in the other political texts combination is repeated etching is one of these responses. They must, however, be seen in be seen must, however, They of these responses. one is etching constitutional going on about with the debate already conjunction of 1776 played a American Revolution and obviously the reform, extension of the franchise to Parliament It was primarily an role. centred of the Whig constitution for reform that the demands revolutionary was not imported from and this demand around, develop out of the socio-economic but it grew movements abroad, in Britain itself with its new mon ment of the Industrial Revolution to the Whig as opposed and industrial interests, eyed, commercial quarter

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Volume and the Rights of Man Rights and the 05 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen was one of many replies to was one of many replies , which in itself was a reply to the , which in itself was a reply The Shrine at St Ann’s Hill Hill St Ann’s Shrine at The Rights of Man James Gillray’s Gillray’s James Gillray’s satirical print “Smelling out a Rat - or The Atheistical Atheistical Gillray’s satirical print “Smelling out a Rat - or The Thomas Paine’s and its warning: “Tremble all ye oppressors of the world!” (in Dick all ye oppressors and its warning: “Tremble inson 1974, 174-175). Revolutionary disturbed by his Midnight Calculations” shows Richardrevolution his composing handed red caught being Price is ary tract by an enormous Edmund Burke. On Price’s wall there of the beheading of Charles I titled, “Death of framed picture a seven years before Here Britain.” Charles I, or the Glory of Great dissenting minister Richard Price’s “A Discourse on the Love of Our Price’s “A dissenting minister Richard Revolution: “the do Country” (1790) with its praise of the French minion of kings changed for the dominion of laws, and the domin and conscience”, ion of priests giving way to the dominion of reason changes of the French Revolution. When he writes that “the age of changes of the French to 170) he does not only refer chivalry is gone” (Burke 1790/1973, and to the with its feudal foundation monarchy the fall of the French sentence:continues in the next he but Antoinette, of Marie treatment “that of sophisters, oeconomists, and calculators has succeeded”. tions on the Revolution in France such and against the French in particular. Burke’s ideology cannot in particular. such and against the French and stale. It must be remembered simply be dubbed reactionary Revolution, initially American that Burke was a supporter of the and his conservatism may as well have been di also of the French, the modernity of the societal changes caused by the against rected politicalthe by as liberalism its with Industrial Revolution imminent quarter

, 36 x 26 cm, academic Smelling out a Rat - or

kvarter James, London, 2 December 1791.

James Gillray,

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th Volume and the Rights of Man Rights and the 05 from 1791 cloaked or 1791 cloaked from Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen . The boost which the The French Revolution Thomas Paine responded to Burke point by Paine responded Thomas The Shrine at St Ann’s Hill Hill St Ann’s Shrine at The , adding some pages of commentary to them. Paine , adding some pages of commentary Vindication of the Rights of Woman Vindication Rights of Man James Gillray’s Gillray’s James In his bishop. The guillotine as the blood-stained altar of the French bishop. The guillotine as the blood-stained altar of the French Revolution is an emblem that is also used in Gillray’s etching. poem Blake’s William symbols, and he avoided disguised the historical events in cosmic support for the French The weakening of radical prosecution. Much Revolution in Britain was not only caused by repression. between England and out support was lost when war broke Ter during the Reign of even more and 1793, France in February fied culminating with Habeas Corpus being suspended in 1794, in the 1795 and and radicals, to Scottish transportation sentences Prac and Seditious passed, the Treasonable 1796 two acts were writers became Radical Acts. Meetings the Seditious Act and tices by an attack on had been provoked Wordsworth William careful. The bish of Llandaff. by the Bishop Revolution made the French the guillotine as “the altar of Liberty… stained to op had referred sex, with the blood of the aged, of the innocent, of the defenceless of a fallen and of the faithful adherents of the ministers of religion, in Dickinson 1974, 216); but Wordsworth (reprinted monarch” to the never published or sent the letter he had written in reply point, e.g.,: “All hereditary government is in its nature tyranny” government is in its nature point, e.g.,: “All hereditary Declaration the French reprinted (Paine 1791-2/1969, 194). Paine in his own similarly titled of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen Rights of Man con was he publication, before France to England from flee to had by burnt were him of effigies and absentia, in sedition for demned Woll Mary 1791 In towns. provincial in King Mobs and Church the debate about the rights of “man” stonecraft explicitly gendered with her politi from France spread from constitution debate in Britain got intensi but government repression into literature, discourses cal “”The Shrine at St Ann’s Hill” as in other of Gillray’s early prints early prints Ann’s Hill” as in other of Gillray’s St at “”The Shrine with the French theme views, and nuanced in his Gillray was more this print is as much an at “Smelling out a Rat” in seen be can as tack on Burke’s Price (Hill 1965, as on the revolutionary alarmism 41-43; Bindman 1989, of Gillray’s 32). Draper Hill sums up the part the 20 subject between its as that had France production anti-Republi these were April 1793, and ten of of 8th the and ber can, two neutral (1965, 43-44). the British reaction and two criticized quarter

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Volume and the Rights of Man Rights and the 05 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen from Saturday, July 30, 1791 can Saturday, from ROYAL GROVE, ROYAL The Times The Shrine at St Ann’s Hill Hill St Ann’s Shrine at The FRANCE IN AN UPROAR! FRANCE IN The ROYAL FUGITIVES ; The ROYAL WESTMINSTER-BRIDGE… ASTLEY’S AMPHITHEATRE, ASTLEY’S Or, FRANCE in an UPROAR ! FRANCE in an UPROAR Or, The Preparations for the Escape. The Preparations The Sentinel bribed, &c. the Thuilleries. from The Escape The Manner in which it was discovered. the Citizens. Alarm of General James Gillray’s Gillray’s James In the above Sketch will be comprised the following In In the above Sketch will be comprised cidents : 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. illustrate how these forms of discourses co-existed in the British re the British in discourses co-existed these forms of illustrate how is an advertisement: page there sponse. On the top of the front Attempt made by their Sen. being in Paris during the ASTLEY, Mr. the Pub MAJESTIES of FRANCE to escape, begs Leave to lay before and Dancing, called new Sketch, consisting of Music lic an entire in this period in Britain of upholding demands for democracy and for democracy demands in this period in Britain of upholding nationalism and in conjunction with feelings of representation patriotism. Publicness Aesthetic and Political An Revolution and the Rights French The forms of publicness about the There content. shared despite alike not are above presented Man of discourses are and there political in nature, that are discourses are Gillray’s sa of an aesthetic nature. that may be termed art and are discourses in form and content,tirical etching combines these two and a look at a copy of ror from September 1793 to July 1794 with of guil its thousands from ror Gaul Invasion In the poem “Does Haughty lotined victims. puts a Burns the invasion threat 1795 by Robert from Threat” them, and silence not but does views, his progressive on damper re though it is spirit, even the revolutionary reconcile to he seeks British by but never “For patriotism: his with France, to lated we sing be righted!” and “But while hands, Maun British Wrangs THE PEOPLE” (reprinted forget ne’er ‘God save the King’, We’ll poem illustrates the challenge in Dickinson 1974, 230-231). Burns’ quarter

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Volume and the Rights of Man Rights and the 05 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen The Shrine at St Ann’s Hill Hill St Ann’s Shrine at The The Decree of the National Assembly proclaimed. Assembly of the National The Decree by the Post-Master. Their Majesties known Alarm given at Varennes. The &c. stopped at the Bridge. The Royal Carriage, by the Governor. The Passport demanded himself. The King discovers the News of theirThe Messenger arrives at Paris with Assembly. the National of View A James Gillray’s Gillray’s James The whole forming a most interesting Spectacle, as Au as Spectacle, The whole forming a most interesting thentic as Striking. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. Majesties being taken. 13. Gillray etching is part of the on-going debate in Britain about the During the 1780s and 1790s the business of graphic caricature During the 1780s and 1790s the business of graphic caricature thrived and never again (Donald 1996, 142), and one before as never a form of publicness that combined may suggest that they represent political publicness with cultural publicness, so that artistic phe prints. nomena became political in the form of graphic caricature and it was for and also by This publicness was extra-parliamentary, the un-franchised. The publicness outside Parliament was on the the in House of Commons move, and in 1792 its voice was heard same page offering a substantial reward for information about the a substantial reward same page offering and seditious paper” that waspublishers of ”a certain scandalous part of the paper is reprinted printed in Birmingham. Interestingly, Revolution and ar It praises the French proclamation. in the royal On the for revolution. also ripe gues that conditions in Britain are about the proceedings a long and detailed report is page there third Assembly only five days old. of the National debate and the link between the interior constitutional relationship of the rights of man. enemy France and the ideals between the arch The etching is just one of the many satirical prints of the period. On the second page there are news reports. One is about violent news reports. are page there On the second anti-revolutionary riots in Sheffield, which the dragoons had been France describing the from is a report and there unable to suppress, over-scrupu being barbaric and savage atheists: ”From as French they fell into an open and avowed contempt of all lous in religion, in their conduct.” It Atheists in their hearts, and rebels divinity… found in Gillray’s sentiment is same the that be mentioned may thefollows on R. George by proclamation royal A print. satirical quarter

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, e.g., through the , e.g., through (1769-91), whereas (1769-91), whereas Volume and the Rights of Man Rights and the 05 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen Reflections of the Revolu Discourses on Art The Shrine at St Ann’s Hill Hill St Ann’s Shrine at The , which in itself is the very eulogy of feudalism and its, which in itself while retaining a recognizable likeness a recognizable while retaining James Gillray’s Gillray’s James The publicness, which combined political matter with aesthet The satirical prints were one of the expressions of this public opin of the expressions one were The satirical prints of a person jut a and nose hooked a with profile cracker nut so-called the of use ting chin that almost meet. the many satirical ics, as it is found in the period and of which spe is One ways. several in explained be can examples are prints cifically based in the political debate about parliamentaryreform and the extension of the franchise. The factions of the bourgeoisie representative publicness. The style of the satirical prints is ironi publicness. The style of the satirical representative isit that way the in style representative heroic, this to related cally and burlesque, and when Reynolds writes that the mock-heroic subject: “The on the appearance of his heroic painter must improve painter has no other means of giving an idea of the dignity of the mind, but by that external appearance which grandeur of thought the countenance, and on though not always, impress does generally, by that correspondence of figure to sentiment and situation which all men wish, but cannot command.” (Reynolds 1997/1769-91, 60) the characters through his The satirist on the other hand caricatures the characteristic features exaggeration and distortion of ludicrous they were sometimes exhibited in galleries. What the prints won in they were at sales their from profits in also and dissemination, and distribution is not even they lost in artistic status. Caricature home and abroad, mentioned in Joshua Reynolds’ of artis the top of the hierarchy at Reynolds places history painting The turbulence of the political and cultural climate in tic genres. Revolution and the changes Britain during the period of the French public of forms the in also and stylistically, reflected are produces it ness in which it was found. The florid and highrhetorical style of publicness is seen in Burke’s representative tion in France when Fox referred to it in a speech: ”It is certainly right and prudent to it in a speech: when Fox referred that I ought to opinion…one thing is most clear, to consult the public (in Habermas of forming an opinion” the means give the public 1962/2009, 65-66). with in Parlia to be reckoned now was a force ion. Public opinion (Donald 1996, i) was so large ment. The number of satirical prints a mass medium, and because of their distribution and that they were they did not belong to the art institution, though mass production quarter

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Volume and the Rights of Man Rights and the 05 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen there is the difference that the that the difference is there The Shrine at St Ann’s Hill Hill St Ann’s Shrine at The Discourses on Art James Gillray’s Gillray’s James ket of culture products”. This middle field which connected the state also connected poli with the civil society of the bourgeoisie of political texts as e.g., tics and aesthetics in its commercialization prints. the Gillray caricature Revolution The French Prehistory of Human Rights: Rights Human of Declaration Nations’ United the of article first The and equal in dignity born free 1948 is “All human beings are from echoes is debased to caricature, and the members of the Royal and the members of the Royal echoes is debased to caricature, theme avoid topicality and the French Academy by and large general explanation may be the more A (Bindman 1989, 30-31). of publicnesses, in which a overall development of the structure an ideal than reali is more spheres division of discrete clear-cut upheavals the and that in this historical period of European ty, that it also took on aesthetic so pervasive debate was political forms. In this connection it is of some significance that Habermas in public sphere 30) in his “blueprint of the bourgeois (1962/2009, the eighteenth century” in the field “Public sphere in the political and the “mar press)” has both the “world of letters (clubs, realm” cal publicness not here. Another, conflicting, explanation is the Parliament and the monarchy, political setup in Britain, in which to some classes, including landed and some fractions of the ruling a balanced rela kind of in some were moneyed interests, extent representative feudal old the of remnants system this In tionship. as political in its expres publicness, which was just as aesthetic (Habermas 1962/2009, 8-10, 36), may have sions of power relations with the political in a public influenced the fusion of the aesthetic in the discus As we have seen it above ness that was bourgeois. sion of Reynolds’s in its bourgeois publicness high style of traditional representative of the period, which were not represented in Westminster, found Westminster, in represented not were which period, the of ex parliamentary ones for political the purely other outlets than employed mass media were and the contemporary pressions, development of 65). In the history of the (Habermas 1962/2009, political material not unique, as however, this is, the public sphere by early mer was turned into a commodity in the form of news The important point is that thechants (Habermas 1962/2009, 15). print business took the form of mass media so thriving caricature actually dealing with an early form of mediated, politi that we are quarter

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Volume and the Rights of Man Rights and the 05 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen ) is “Men are born and remain remain born and “Men are ) is The Shrine at St Ann’s Hill Hill St Ann’s Shrine at The James Gillray’s Gillray’s James Western in origin” (Hunt 1996, 3-4), and Hunt continues to in origin” (Hunt 1996, 3-4), Western is However, universalism is not the only problem of Rights of Man not the only problem universalism is However, trating how the Rights of Man may have arisen out of a foundation Age general spirit of the of the alist or universal position as a result of them in of Enlightenment, but certainly also that the reception Britain at the time was anti-foundationalist to use Malachuk’s term, ideological weapon. as a French regarded i.e. they were hadwho about primarily questions, other Some rights. human or the right to possess human rights or rights of man as they were enment debate and out of questions about natural law, but it was a about natural law, enment debate and out of questions Yet, Huntto “reaction emphasiz contemporary political conflicts”. rights. In “Human Rightses the universal applicability of human Daniel L. Malachuk sum and a Post Secular Religion of Humanity,” marizes the positions for or against the universalism of human rights, and he calls the advocates for the universalism of human universal, rationalist are rights “foundationalists for whom there foundation for human rights,” and “the anti-foundationalists, who maintain that contingent, human relative”rights fluid (in are and is that the anti-foundationalist 2012, 3). His conclusion Porsdam group is the more influential of the two. This article aimed atillus tury Rights of Man adopted during the French Revolution. This ar the French tury Rights of Man adopted during outside France, received how the Rights of Man were ticle explores this time the at it has been seen in the article, already As in Britain. of human rights was ap feature contradiction or at least debatable or not. To universal the question whether they are namely parent, that phenomenon as a Western day Human Rights may be regarded Western way that same the in the world of rest the imposed on are have been exported during the historical pe ideology and religion “the idea of universal humanriod of colonialism and imperialism: rights independently in the Enlight state that this ideal did not arise only and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and and conscience and with reason endowed are and rights. They firstThe brotherhood.” of spirit a in another one towards act should the Citizen ( of the Rights of Man and of article of Declaration et du citoyen de l’homme des droits ration only Social distinctions may be founded and equal in rights. free of Man and of the good.” Declaration of the Rights upon the general Assembly Constituent National French adopted by the Citizen was the two points to theof the wording of identity The near in 1789. Human Rights and the 18th cen connection between 20th century quarter

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Volume and the Rights of Man Rights and the 05 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire The Shrine at St Ann’s Hill Hill St Ann’s Shrine at The The Last Utopia. Human Rights in History James Gillray’s Gillray’s James It is the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen Declaration of the Rights of It is the French into the universalism of modern Human Rights. of the article also that is in focus in this article, but the argumentation - in a wide sense of human – or precursors on the prehistory rest the social phi rights, which contains a combination of natural law, losophy of John Locke, which could be used to combine natural law it for as rights, Enlightenment philosophy rights with human and in instance was expressed val natural law and the proclamations and documents of the Ameri and documents of the val natural law and the proclamations stat Revolutions. Moyn substantiates this argument can and French of the Rights of Declaration e.g., the French ing that the precursors’, debate became “zones ofMan and of the Citizen’s, contemporary of citizenship” (Moyn 2010, 13), whereas over the meaning struggle in their universalism and all inclusive modern human rights were utopian, transnational ideal. The contradictions mentioned above Citizen and in Human in the Rights of Man and of the inherent explained by extent only, extent, but to some to some Rights are Moyn, when he sees a transformation of eighteenth-century Rights nationalism,” of Man, which he subsumes under “revolutionary the light of these contradictions, in particular it is apparent how the particular it is apparent the light of these contradictions, in as and of the Citizen was regarded Declaration of the Rights of Man universal applicability in Britain.anything else than a principle of and aggres understood as a manifestation of belligerent They were and the policy, nationalism and foreign revolutionary sive French American and the the connected to revolutions, rights of man were and monarchs. of governments to the violent overthrow and French, Samuel Moyn, in his Rights and what he calls “the con guishes between modern Human (Moyn 2010, 12), and by this after the fact” of precursors struction Roman Stoic thinkers, medie and he means the Greek construction called gave rise to passionate debates: How about the poor and il passionate debates: How about called gave rise to how about the women, how about black slaves, literate, how about and how about members state and religion between the relationship exe how about Jews, and curiously, in particular of other religions, in the answered Many of these questions were cutioners and actors? persisted after the Declaration of Inde America slavery negative. In of the Declaration of the pendence, and in France the adoption 1789 was only four years prior toRights of Man and of the Citizen in inviewed was context its and etching Gillray’s Terror. of Reign the quarter

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Volume and the Rights of Man Rights and the 05 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen newspaper. In other words, In other words, newspaper. Déclaration des droits de l’homme et du Déclaration des droits (1751-1772), the historical events of the (1751-1772), the The Times The Shrine at St Ann’s Hill Hill St Ann’s Shrine at The James Gillray’s Gillray’s James or the Rights of Man are not regarded as universal. Present- not regarded or the Rights of Man are of the eighteenth century debate about the Rights of Man and theirand Man of Rights the about debate century eighteenth the of that combined aesthetics in the context of a publicness reception, and politics, and in the wider context of the question of universal ism of Human Right, a question that is of importance today in the age of globalisation. tional reform in Britain. This conclusion was reached in the article in Britain. This conclusion was reached tional reform a contextualisation of Gillray’s satirical print and by going through of the print’s visual language, ico by an analysis or close reading further A movement. rhetorical nography and iconology and its point was made in the article with the contextualisation of the print a form of publicness that combined political and cul within printssatirical contemporary many the only Not publicness. tural but it was also seen in instances of this combined publicness, were the article’s example from In this way the was an aesthetic quality to this publicness. there Ann’s Hill” article has positioned “The Shrine at St citoyen nothing of human rights are day questions of the universalism of human rights were or pre-cursors the pre-history Already new. of partisan ideological and evenattacked for being manifestations French, purely as regarded were they case this In interests. national even though the Rights of Man may have arisen or in other words Age of Enlightenment, they were the from out of a universal ideals ideological weapon as i.e. a French as relativist, soon regarded connected to the interior debate about constitu well as they were It follows from the argumentation described above in Gillray’s sa described above the argumentation It follows from 1798 that the tirical print from sciences, des arts et des métiers sciences, des arts et Revolution, but French the of obviously and Revolution, American and(1215) Carta Magna the with history British in back further also the through (1689), and legal traditions established The Bill of Rights is in focus is that that the prehistory reason centuries. The obvious of the eight Gillray’s etching to the is contemporary revolutions is also British history and society. eenth century and that its context Rights? Universalism of Human Conclusion: quarter

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. New York: York: . New . Berkeley and Billedanalyse Communications The Common People Volume and the Rights of Man Rights and the 05 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen . Copenhagen: Gylen . London: Phaidon. . Oxford: Oxford Univer Oxford . Oxford: Napoleon and the Invasion of Napoleon and the Invasion of . London: Victoria & Albert Mu & Victoria London: . . Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s. . Boston: Bedford/St. The Structural Transformation of the Pub of The Structural Transformation Art and Visual Perception Art and Visual Signs and Symbols in Christian Art. Signs and Symbols in Christian Art. Politics and Literature in the Eighteenth Cen and Literature Politics Looking into Pictures Reflections on the Revolution in France. France. in Revolution the on Reflections London: British Museum. Charles James Fox Caricature The Shadow of the Guillotine. Britain and the Guillotine. Britain and the The Shadow of the The Shrine at St Ann’s Hill Hill St Ann’s Shrine at The The French Revolution and Human Rights: A Riber Christensen. 1989. Riber Christensen. The Age of Caricature: Satirical Prints in the Reign Satirical Prints in the Reign The Age of Caricature: The Last Utopia: Human Right in History Human The Last Utopia: The Satirical Etchings of James Gillray Fashionable Contrasts: Caricatures by James Gillray . New Haven: Yale University Press. Yale . New Haven: Mr. Gillray the Caricaturist Mr. . London: Metheun. . University of Oxford: The Bodleian Library. . University of Oxford: James Gillray’s Gillray’s James . London: Dent. hell, L. G. 1992. penhagen: Dansklærerforeningens Forlag. penhagen: Dansklærerforeningens seum. sity Press. Bellknap. bridge, MA: Harvard Dover. dal. 1746-1946 Los Angeles: University of California Press. Angeles: University of California Los 40-51. Revolution. French mondsworth: Penguin. Britain Society An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois lic Sphere: Polity. London: lated by Thomas Burger. London: Phaidon. Brief Documentary History of George III of George tury University Press. Oxford ford: Kristensen, J. and J. Kristensen, J. and 1983. L. Lambourne, Mitc Moyn, S. 2010. Habermas, J. 1962/2009. Hill, D. 1976. 1966. D. Hill, Hill, D. 1965. 1996. Hunt, L., ed. Christensen, J.R. 1991. 1938/1971. Cole, G.D.H. and R. Postgate. Donald, D. 1996. 1974. Dickinson, H.T. G. 1954/1976. Ferguson, and M. Philip. 2003. A. Franklin, References Arnheim, R. 1982/2002. ”Rhétorique de l’image,” Barthes, R. 1964. Bindman, D. 1989. Burke, E., 1790/1973. quarter

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Volume and the Rights of Man Rights and the 05 . New Haven: Yale Yale . New Haven: . London: Fontana. Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen . Harmondsworth: Penguin. . Harmondsworth: Vindication of the Rights of Woman. of the Rights of Woman. Vindication Discourses on Art The Making of the English Working Class. Class. The Making of the English Working . New York: Harper and Row. Harper and York: . New Studies Themes in in Iconology Humanistic Civil Religion, Human Rights and Interna Human Religion, Civil Rights of Man The Problems of Burke’s Political Philosophy of Burke’s The Problems The Shrine at St Ann’s Hill Hill St Ann’s Shrine at The Revolutionary Europe 1783-1815 Revolutionary Europe , Saturday, July 30, 1791. London. July , Saturday, James Gillray’s Gillray’s James the Art of the Renaissance Harmondsworth: Penguin. Clarendon. Oxford: Harmondsworth: Penguin. tional Relations: Connecting People across Cultures and Traditions Cultures Connecting Relations: People across tional Elgar. Cheltenham: Edgar University Press. The Times 1963/1974. Thompson, E.P. 1967. B. T. Wilkins, M. 1791/1975. Wollstonecraft, Paine, T. 1791-2/1969. Paine, T. E. 1939/1972. Panofsky, 2012. ed. H., Porsdam, Reynolds, J. 1997/1769-91. Rudé, G. 1964. quarter

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