"A sequel to British Museum Satires No. 10518, Gillray's 'Tiddy-Doll'. Napoleon, haggard and desperate, wearing tattered uniform without the former apron and sword, walks in profile to the left, carrying on his head a large tray. On this stand three gingerbread kings, burlesqued and mutilated, with two queens, a detached head (crowned), and (right) a pile of imperial emblems: crowns, mitre, sceptre, eagle, flag, &c. On the left a bonnet rouge hangs from a staff. In the middle stands an imperial eagle with a tricolour flag to which is tied a broom showing that the contents of the tray are for sale. Napoleon says (with grimly closed mouth): "Buy my Image! Here's my nice little Gingerbread Emperor & Kings Retail and for Exportation!" Behind him is a tumbledown thatched hovel; over an aperture where more gingerbread figures are displayed is a board: 'Tiddy-Doll Gingerbread Baker. NB Removed from Paris.' Above fly three of the (carrion) birds associated in these prints with Elba. Napoleon walks towards the sea; across the water (in France) tiny figures dance holding hands round a white flag inscribed 'Vivent les Bourbons' and topped by a fleur-de-lis. Behind them is the gable-end of a rustic inn: 'The Kings Head New Revived'. A fiddler capers on the edge of the cliff, watching Napoleon."--British Museum online catalogue and "One of many satires on Napoleon's banishment, see British Museum Satires No. 12229, &c., and on the fall of the Bonaparte kings, the 'Corsican Kinglings' of British Museum Satires No. 10518. The Kings must be Joseph, Louis, and Jérôme, see British Museum Satires No. 12225, the Queens either their wives or Napoleon's sisters; they symbolize the fall of the dynasty and no precise identification is necessary. The other kings of British Museum Satires No. 10518, those who owed their crowns to Napoleon, are absent; they are now his enemies."--Curator's comments, British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Artist "G.H." identified as George Humphrey in the British Museum catalogue., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., and On verso in brown ink is the collector's stamp of Nick Knowles: A pair of crossed skis.
Publisher:
Pubd. April 21st, 1814, by H. Humphrey, St. James's Street
Subject (Name):
Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821, Joseph Bonaparte, King of Spain, 1768-1844, Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland, 1778-1846, and Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia, 1784-1860
Subject (Topic):
Elba and the Hundred Days, 1814-1815, Military uniforms, French, Baked products, Trays, Kings, Queens, Crowns, Scepters, Miters, Liberty cap, Flags, Brooms & brushes, Birds of prey, Bodies of water, and Cliffs
"Illustration to 'The Empire of the Nairs', pp. 175-9, referring to verses published in the 'Scourge', iii. 313-18, 456-61, 'The H- [Hertford] Dynasty, or the Empire of the Nairs', suggested by the romance of J.H. Lawrence, 'The Empire of the Nairs', 1811 (published in German in 1811, and afterwards in French), with an introduction seriously advocating the introduction of these customs into England. The Nairs (or Nayars) were a military caste of Malabar who practised polyandry. The plate is not elucidated. Lady Hertford reclines in an ornate bath, into which water gushes from the jaws of a monster which decorates the pedestal of a Venus. The bath is raised on a triple dais and backed by the pillars and canopy which frame the Venus forming the centre of the design. The Regent, in royal robes, ascends the steps of the dais, poised on his toes like a ballet-dancer, and places a crownlike marquis's coronet on the head of Lady Hertford who leans towards him, her enormous breasts appearing over the edge of the bath. She says: "I proclaim the Freedom of the Sex & the Supremacy of Love." Lord Hertford, who bestrides the pedestal, looks down delightedly from behind the statue of Venus. He has horns, and holds his Chamberlain's staff. The water pours from the bath through the nostrils of a bull's head with which it is ornamented, and falls in a triple cascade into a circular basin in the centre foreground. On each side of the statue of Venus and flanking the dais is a statue in a niche: 'Aspasia' (left) and 'Messalina' (right); both are disrobing. Near the fountain (right) a hideous hag, naked to the waist, crouches before a tall brazier in which she burns a 'Mantle of Modesty'. The building appears to be circular, an arc of the wall forming a background on each side of the centre-piece. On this are tablets inscribed respectively 'Hic Jacet Perdita' [Mary Robinson, the Prince's first mistress, see No. 5767, &c.]; 'Hic Jacet Armstead' [Mrs. Fox, who had been the Prince's mistress, cf. No. 10589]; 'Hic J[acet] Vauxhall Bess' [Elizabeth Billington, see British Museum Satires No. 9970; her mother sang at Vauxhall, see British Museum Satires No. 6853]. In the foreground on the extreme right a buxom young woman puts her arms round the Duke of Cumberland, saying, "I'll go to Cumberland"; he walks off with her, to the fury of an admiral just behind the lady who clutches his sword and is seemingly her husband. Cumberland wears hussar uniform with a shako and fur-bordered dolman, with a star and a large sabre. A meretricious-looking young woman (? Mrs. Carey) puts her arms round the Duke of York, saying, "And I to York." The Duke, who wears uniform with a cocked hat and no sword, looks down quizzically at her. Behind him a tall thin officer in hussar uniform bends towards Princess Charlotte, taking her hand; he says: "Sure & I'll go to Wales." She runs eagerly towards him. As a pendant to these figures, Grenadiers stand at attention on the left, holding bayoneted muskets; they have huge noses, and smile at a buxom lady wearing spurred boots who addresses them with outstretched arm, saying, "And you for Buckinghamshire." At her feet is an open book: 'Slawkenberges Chapr on Noses' [from Sterne's Slawkenbergius, imaginary author of a Rabelaisian fantasy in 'Tristram Shandy']. They have a standard with the word 'Buckin ...' on it. Behind the Prince (left) stands Tom Moore, looking up at the coronation; he holds an open book: 'Little Poems / Ballad . . .' He says: "I'll give you one Little Song More [see British Museum Satires No. 12082]." Behind him stands Mrs. Jordan, placing a chamber-pot on the head of the Duke of Clarence, who wears admiral's uniform with trousers."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Plate from: The Scourge, or, Monthly expositor of imposture and folly. London: W. Jones, v. 4 (September 1812), page 173., and Sheet trimmed within plate mark.
Publisher:
Pubd. September 1st, 1812, by W.N. Jones, No. 5 Newgate St.
Subject (Name):
George IV, King of Great Britain, 1762-1830, Hertford, Francis Ingram Seymour, Marquess of, 1743-1822, Hertford, Isabella Anne Ingram-Seymour-Conway, Marchioness of, 1760-1834, Frederick Augustus, Prince, Duke of York and Albany, 1763-1827, Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover, 1771-1851, Charlotte Augusta, Princess of Great Britain, 1796-1817, William IV, King of Great Britain, 1765-1837, Jordan, Dorothy, 1761-1816, Robinson, Mary, 1758-1800., Fox, Elizabeth Bridget, 1750-1842., Billington, Elizabeth, 1765-1818., and Venus (Roman deity),