Fast Asleep Wide Awake

James Gillray

a. Fast -Asleep. – b. Wide – Awake. –

London, H. Humphrey Nov. 1st 1806

Etchings,

plate ‘a’ on paper watermarked ‘Whatman Turkey Mills 1821’

Original hand-colouring

255x210mm

Plate ‘b’ trimmed to decorative border.

The pair £850

A made up pair. A famous pair of caricatures by Gillray. In Plate ‘a’ an ugly potbellied country squire sits at a table on which rests the Political Register, a jug, a glass of wine and his pipe with the smouldering dottle about to set fire to the newspaper. He leans back in his chair fast asleep, his wig falling off backwards and hands clasped over his vast striped waistcoat. In plate ‘b’ an old man sitting before his fire in an elegant salon, has just been startled awake by two squalling cats, which hiss and spit at each other in the background. His hands are raised in surprise and terror and his eyes and mouth gape wide. BM 10644 & 10645.