Death Extraordinary

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

Draughtsman and printmaker William Heath was born in Northumbria. Little is known of his early life but he may have been raised in Spain and have served in the British army. Heath was 14 when his first satirical cartoons were published and he continued to etch caricatures and illustrate books, including his own ‘Life of a Soldier’ (1823). In 1825-26 he was in Edinburgh, writing and illustrating for the journal ‘Glasgow Looking Glass’. He later returned to London to illustrate a similar journal, ‘Looking Glass’. From 1827-29 he identified his work with a tiny drawing of stage character ‘Paul Pry’, abandoning the motif when it was copied by other artists. From 1830 he concentrated on topographical illustration. He died in Hampstead, aged 45.

People

Nicholas, 1st Baron Bexley Vansittart (1766 - 1851), Robert, Viscount Castlereagh and 2nd Marquess of Londonderry Stewart (1769 - 1822), William Pitt (1759 - 1806)

Places

Subjects

satire, smoke, man, woman, 19th century costume, dress, breeches, bonnet, death, illness, Baron, Earl, Marquess, Viscount, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Prime Minister, monster, demon, cartoon

Materials & Techniques

etching, coloured etching

Artist

William, ("Paul Pry") Heath (1795 - 1840)

Title

Death Extraordinary

Date

1816

Medium

Coloured etching

Dimensions

height: 26.80 cm, width: 35.50 cm

Acquisition

Transferred from HM Revenue and Customs, December 2012

Inscription

in pencil, above "Monday night": March 18.th ; pointing to "languished": "Pitt"

Provenance

Inland Revenue, Somerset House; transferred to GAC 2012

GAC number

15564