View source for James Sayers (caricaturist)

{{Short description|English caricaturist (1748–1823)}}
{{about||the Northern Irish physicist|James Sayers (physicist)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

'''James Sayers''' (or '''Sayer''') (1748 – April 20, 1823)<ref name="Bryant&Henneage">{{cite book|last1=Bryant|first1=Mark|last2=Henneage| first2=Simon| title=Dictionary of British Cartoonists and Caricaturists, 1730-198|date=1994|publisher=Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd|location=London, England| page=192|  isbn=978-0859679763}}</ref> was an [[England|English]] [[caricaturist]] . Many of his works are described in the [[Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires Preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum]]<ref name="DorothyGeorge">{{cite book|last1=George| first1=M Dorothy |title=Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires Preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum |publisher=The British Museum| date=1870–1954| location=London}}</ref> which has an extensive holdings  of his works collected at the time of original publication by [[Sarah Sophia Banks]].<ref name="BMBio">{{cite web| title=James Sayers (British Museum Biographical details) | url=http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/term_details.aspx?bioId=108519}}</ref>

He was born at [[Great Yarmouth]], [[Norfolk]], the son of a merchant captain.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Sayer, James|volume=24|page=277}}</ref> He began as clerk in an [[solicitor|attorney]]'s office, and was for a time a member of the borough council.<ref name="DNB">{{cite ODNB| title=Sayer, James in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography | author=L. H. Cust, revised by E. A. Smith| doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/24771| year=2004}}</ref> In 1780 his father's death provided him with a small fortune, and he went to [[London]]. As a political caricaturist he supported [[William Pitt the Younger]]. His plate of "Carlo Khan's triumphal entry into [[Leadenhall Street]]" was admitted by [[Charles James Fox]], against whom it was directed, to have damaged his public image. Sayer was always at his best when attacking Fox, whose strong features he portrayed with remarkable power, always so as to make them convey expressions of defiant impudence or anger. Pitt, not known as a patron of the arts, provided Sayer with a place as marshal of the Exchequer court. He died in Curzon Street, Mayfair.<ref name="EB1911"/>
[[File:Et cadet ante aras infelix victima virgo by James Sayers.jpg|thumb|James Sayers, satirical engraving of [[Robert Willan]] based on a dispute over a [[pew]] at the [[Foundling Hospital]]]]

Sayer's "Carlo Khan" has been frequently reproduced. But he can only be judged with confidence after examining the collection in the [[British Museum]], or other public libraries. His drawings, made originally with pencil on oil paper, were etched for him by the Brethertons (([[James Bretherton]], [[Charles Bretherton]])). They were then sold in collections of the size of a large octavo copybook, under such titles as ''Illustrious Heads'' (1794) or ''Outlines of the Opposition'' (1795).  Sayer left a complete gallery of small full-length pictures of the public men of his time, slightly caricatured. In his large plates he is inferior to [[James Gillray]], and he never has the grace of [[Thomas Rowlandson]], but he was closer to the truth than either.<ref name="EB1911"/>

He also wrote political propaganda as prose and verse {{sfn|Bryant|Henneage|1994|p=192}} ''The Foundling Chapel Brawl'',<ref name ="Sayers1804" >{{cite book|last1=Sayers|first1=James|title=The Foundling Chapel Brawl|date=1804| location=London, England  }}</ref> ''Elijah's Mantle'',<ref name ="Sayers1806" >{{cite book|last1=Sayers|first1=James|title=Elijah's Mantle|url=https://archive.org/details/elijahsmantleap00canngoog|date=1806| location=London, England   }}</ref>  ''All The Talent's Garland'',<ref name ="Sayers1807" >{{cite book|last1=Sayers|first1=James|title=All The Talent's Garland|date=1807| location=London, England }}</ref> ''Hints to J.Nollekens Esq''<ref name ="Sayers1808" >{{cite book|last1=Sayers|first1=James|title=Hints to J.Nollekens Esq.|date=1808| location=London, England    }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{commons category}}

==External links==
*[https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/term_details.aspx?bioId=108519 James Sayers] (British Museum Bio)

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sayers, James}}
[[Category:1748 births]]
[[Category:1823 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Great Yarmouth]]
[[Category:18th-century English engravers]]
[[Category:19th-century British engravers]]
[[Category:English caricaturists]]
[[Category:English poets]]
[[Category:English male poets]]