Alice Loxton

Historian Alice Loxton tells the story of the satirical printmakers of the 1790s and 1800s. Led by James Gillray, Thomas Rowlandson and Isaac Cruikshank, UPROAR! shows how, from the dimly lit taverns, drenched in alcohol, coffee and the stench of Georgian London, the young British artists of their era produced some of the most impactful, creative output Britain has ever seen.

Loxton shows how this network also captured and articulated British humour, setting the precedent for how we laugh today. Their legacy led to the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, to The Two Ronnies, to Spitting Image and Private Eye.

London, 1772: a young artist called Thomas Rowlandson is making his way through the grimy backstreets of the capital, on his way to begin his studies at the Royal Academy Schools. Within a few years, James Gillray and Isaac Cruikshank would join him in Piccadilly, turning satire into an artform, taking on the British establishment, and forever changing the way we view power.

Set against a backdrop of royal madness, political intrigue, the birth of modern celebrity, French revolution, American independence and the Napoleonic Wars, UPROAR! follows the satirists as they lampoon those in power, from the Prince Regent to Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. Their prints and illustrations deconstruct the political and social landscape with surreal and razor-sharp wit, as the three men vie with each other to create the most iconic images of the day.

UPROAR! fizzes with energy on every page. Alice Loxton writes with verve and energy, never failing to convince in her thesis that Gillray and his gang profoundly altered British humour, setting the stage for everything from Gilbert and Sullivan to Private Eye and Spitting Image today. This is a book that will cause readers to reappraise everything they think they know about genteel Georgian London, and see it for what it was - a time of UPROAR!.

First published: Thursday 2nd March 2023