James Gillray was among the most popular print satirists of the late eighteenth century. Here he uses the imagery of gluttony to criticise the exorbitant demands on the public purse. Queen Charlotte, George, Prince of Wales, and King George III ravenously ladle money into their mouths.

And leaving the dog next door in her wake 🤣

This royal proclamation was disregarded by the majority of colonists.

In 1762, a Cherokee delegation (Ostenaco, Cunneshote and Woyi) sailed to England to meet with King George III. They secured the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which forbade white settlers from claiming any land west of the Appalachian Mountains.

Eleanor Anne Porden (1795-1825) was a British Romantic poet. Her first major work, The Veils; or the Triumph of Constancy, was completed when she was 18 and published when she was 20. She was the first wife of the Arctic explorer John Franklin.

This painting is based on a poem by Lord Tennyson. It tells the tale of Elaine, an innocent country girl who falls in love with Sir Lancelot. He abandons her in favour of Queen Guinevere and she dies from unrequited love.

In this painting, the books likely symbolise the pursuit of knowledge, and the mirror and material, fixation on appearance.

Vanitas is a genre of memento mori, an artistic trope acting as a reminder of the inevitability of death. The paintings often have symbolic imagery which attempts to convey the message that all people die, encouraging the viewer to think about the futility of earthly pursuits.