Ink & Outrage: 18th Century Satirical Prints in London & Dublin
This summer, the Driehaus Museum presents Ink & Outrage: 18th Century Satirical Prints in London & Dublin, an exhibition that explores the wit and graphic brilliance displayed by English graphic satirical artists such as James Gillray (1765-1815) and Thomas Rowlandson (1757-1827) to lampoon civics, society, and culture in Georgian London. The exhibition places original prints in dialogue with plagiarized works by artists in Ireland, evoking conversations about piracy, originality, and reproduction that have become more relevant than ever today. Organized by guest curators Silvia Beltrametti and William Laffan and following its debut at the Irish Architectural Archive in Dublin in 2025, Ink & Outrage: 18thCentury Satirical Prints in London & Dublin takes place at the Driehaus Museum, 50 E. Erie Street, from May 15 to September 13, 2026.
Now ubiquitous in Internet meme culture and modern-day satire, the groundbreaking use of image and text during the Georgian period was a powerful form of storytelling, holding those in power accountable, and fostering bonds between classes and communities. Ink & Outrage: 18th Century Satirical Prints in London & Dublin includes approximately 100 original prints and features loans from The William A. Gordon Library of British Caricature, the collection of the O’Brien family, and the Richard H. Driehaus Art Exhibition Lending Foundation.
The exhibition places original prints alongside plagiarized works made in Ireland, where copyright law of images did not apply and business for replicas flourished. These pirated copies provoked historic debates around authorship and plagiarism that set the stage for current conversations around artificial intelligence, intellectual property, and mass reproduction today.
In the context of the Driehaus Museum, the exhibition presents Georgian satirical prints as a vital precursor to the art, architecture, and ideas that shaped the United States during the Gilded Age. The works reflect the visual and political culture of an influential period in Britain and Ireland that went on to inform American taste and civic life.
Executive Director of the Driehaus Museum Lisa M. Key says, “Ink & Outrage: 18th Century Satirical Prints in London & Dublin is a model for meaningful international collaboration, strengthening the Museum’s commitments to rigorous scholarship, shared stewardship, and cross-cultural exchange. We hope visitors see the trajectory from these early forms of satire to the present day, and the importance of satire as a public forum for debate and connection.” Co-curator Silvia Beltrametti adds, “Caricature is the intellectual vehicle that speaks truth to power in the fastest, funniest, and most piercing way possible. Behind the blasts of color in these prints lie a remarkable copyright story-- free from the legal constraints, Irish publishers could copy original productions from London.”
Major support for this exhibition is provided by the Driehaus Trust Company, LLC.
ABOUT THE CURATORS
Silvia Beltrametti is a lecturer in the Department of Art History, Theory and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Beltrametti is an expert on art law and her research focuses on the international trade of art as well as intellectual property, specifically on how copyright shapes artistic production. She has published in the Columbia Journal of Law and the Arts andNorthwestern Journal of Technology & Intellectual Property. In 2025 she contributed to Myth and Marble, Ancient Roman Sculpture from the Torlonia Collection (ed. Lisa Ayla Çakmak and Katharine A. Ruff, Yale University Press). With William Laffan, she has published two substantial articles on Dublin caricatures in Irish Architectural and Decorative Studies.
William Laffan is a cultural historian and the author of numerous books on Irish art and architecture. He served as editor of Irish Architectural and Decorative Studies and has published extensively across a wide variety of cultural topics. In 2014 he co-authored Russborough: A Great Irish House, Its Families and Collections and the following year was historical adviser to the landmark exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago, Ireland, Crossroads of Art and Design, 1690- 1840 and edited the show’s catalogue. In 2024 he curated Thomas Frye, An Irish Artist in London at Dublin Castle. With Silvia Beltrametti, he has published two substantial articles on Dublin caricatures in Irish Architectural and Decorative Studies.
Image: After James Gilray, Oh! that this too too solid flesh would melt, Published by William McCleary, Dublin.
