Brooke, William Henry, 1772-1860, printmaker, artist
Published / Created:
[1 September 1813]
Call Number:
813.09.01.02
Image Count:
1
Resource Type:
still image
Abstract:
"Plate from the 'Satirist', xiii. 193. In the text the title continues '. . ., "alias" War'. A satire on the Congress of Prague. Four sovereigns, completely unlike the men in question, in conference. The Tsar sits behind a small rectangular table on which are displayed implements of war in miniature: cannon, pyramids of cannon-balls, muskets, swords, drums, &c., and flags on one of which are fleurs-de-lis. On the left stand the King of Prussia and the Emperor of Austria, on the right is Napoleon. Alexander extends his hands rhetorically, turning to the left, with a puckered scowl, to say to the two Germans: "Come Gentlemen see first if you can agree--if not we'll all fight!" He has quasi-Kalmuck features, and wears an odd-shaped crown, an ermine-bordered robe, with a jewelled necklace and a Greek cross. Frederick William III, on the extreme left, clutches the hilt of his sword and puts his left hand to his cocked hat as if ready to doff it, he turns to Francis I, towards whom a label issues from his mouth: "I am ready to treat or to fight"; a second label floats to the left, inscribed 'Infernal Scoundrel'. Francis I, looking distracted, stands directed to the right, legs apart, and in his left hand is his sabre, the blade of which curves over the Tsar's head, but both hands touch his crown, and he says: "I will wear an independant Crown." He wears hussar uniform, cloak, sash, and elaborately embroidered tunic and pantaloons. Napoleon, tall and burly, with heavy whisker and aquiline profile, wears a plumed bicorne with tricolour cockade and very tattered uniform leaving his legs almost bare, with one dilapidated jack-boot and one damaged stocking; he has a long sword. He stands aggressively with arms dramatically extended, saying, "My Friends! all we wish is Peace." A chain is attached to each great toe, which is fastened to the necks of two miserable princes, tiny figures standing between his outstretched legs. One (left), Charles IV of Spain, wearing a crown and robe, grotesquely knock-kneed and despairing, stands full-face. The other, wearing a crown with uniform and sword, stoops in profile, looking up abjectly at Napoleon's legs. On the extreme right, in the middle distance, is a tall Spanish don, much emaciated, wrapped in a cloak. He looks down with folded arms at a fat British officer beside him, who says: "I ll countenance Austria into our interests." The Spaniard: "I'll be damned if I go to meet a Frenchman in Prague, while there is a Frenchman to meet in Spain!!!" Behind them in the background a tiny Napoleon, wearing a grotesque crown and holding a sword, marches downhill at the head of his soldiers carrying flags; he has a melancholy expression and approaches the edge of a precipitous descent."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Satirist 1st September 1813
Description:
Title etched below image., Date of publication from text above image: Satirist 1st September 1813., and Plate from: The satirist, or, Monthly meteor, v. 13, page 193.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Name):
Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821, Alexander I, Emperor of Russia, 1777-1825, Frederick William III, King of Prussia, 1770-1840, Francis I, Emperor of Austria, 1768-1835, Charles IV, King of Spain, 1748-1819, and Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821.
Subject (Topic):
Heads of state, Summit meetings, Cannons, Flags, Military uniforms, Daggers & swords, Crowns, and Chains
"Three volunteers or militiamen, three-quarter length figures, exult at the head of Bonaparte which one of them (right) holds up on a pitchfork, saying, "Here he is Exalted my Lads 24 Hours after Landing." The head is in profile to the left, the sharp well-cut features contrast with those of the chubby yokels. The centre figure, holding out his hat, says, turning to the left: "Why Harkee, d'ye zee, I never liked Soldiering afore, but some how or other when I though [sic] of our Sal the bearns, the poor pigs, the Cows and the Geese, why I could have killed the whole Army my own Self." He wears a smock with the crossed straps of a cartouche-box. The third man (left) in regimentals, but round-shouldered and unsoldierly, says: "Dang my Buttons if that beant the Head of that Rogue Boney - I told our Squire this Morning, what do you think say's I the Lads of our Village can't cut up a Regiment of them French Mounsheers, and as soon as the Lasses had given us a Kiss for good luck I could have sworn we should do it and so we have." All three have hats turned up with favours and oak-twigs, the favours being inscribed respectively (left to right): 'Hearts of Oak'; 'Britons never will be Slaves', and 'We'll fight and We'll Conquer again and again'. In the spaces between these foreground figures is seen a distant encounter between English horse and foot and French invaders, who are being driven into the sea, on which are flat-bottomed boats, all on a very small scale. Two women search French corpses; one says: "why this is poor finding I have emtied the pocketts of a score and only found one head of garlic 9 onions & a parcel of pill Boxes." Cf. British Museum Satires No. 8145."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Levée en masse, or, Britons strike home and Britons strike home
Description:
Title etched below image., Attributed to Charles Williams in the British Museum catalogue., Publisher's advertisement below image, in lower right: Folios of caracatures [sic] lent out for the evening., and Sheet trimmed to plate mark on top and bottom.
Publisher:
Pub. Augt. 6th, 1803, by S.W. Fores, 50 Piccadilly
Subject (Name):
Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821 and Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821.
Subject (Topic):
Napoleonic Wars, 1800-1815, Proposed invasion of England, 1793-1805, Soldiers, British, French, Militias, Pitchforks, Heads (Anatomy), Decapitations, and War casualties