One Hundred Years at the Library: The Plum Pudding in Danger

Take a trip through the centuries in the latest episode of the Frick Art Reference Library’s anniversary series. In this video, Stephen J. Bury, Andrew W. Mellon Chief Librarian, explores the most famous political cartoon by the English caricaturist James Gillray. The 1805 print satirizes the news of the day, as Emperor Napoleon and British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger carve up the world in the form of a Christmas plum pudding. The print exemplifies the range of the library’s holdings, particularly its vast works on paper collection.

All the objects highlighted in this video series are featured in the celebratory publication One Hundred Objects in the Frick Art Reference Library, available for purchase at the shop. You can consult materials in the library's collections in our reading room—book a free visit today.

One Hundred Years at the Library is supported in part by Virginia and Randall Barbato.