"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
"The base of the design is a dunghill from which rises the head of Napoleon as a young republican officer, not caricatured. His head is covered by a large cup-shaped fungus, decorated with a tricolour cockade and resembling a Cap of Liberty; from its apex ascends a curving stalk, terminating in the large yellow rosette of a sunflower, centred by the head of Napoleon as Emperor, larger than that of the base, and representing an older man; like the lower one it is directed slightly to the right. Below it, leaves project from the stalk, balancing the design. On Napoleon's head is an arrangement of stamens in the form of an imperial crown. These unite to form the long scraggy neck of the third Napoleon, a head in profile to the right, emaciated and desperate. On this head is a larger fungus than that below, projecting like an enormous hat. From it ascend the stems of a bunch of violets, copied from No. 12511, but with the addition of more flowers, and on a larger scale. It contains the profiles of Napoleon, Marie Louise, and the King of Rome, arranged exactly as in British Museum Satires No. 12511. Smaller fungi sprout from the dunghill, some flat and some conical, like caps of Liberty; on the latter tricolour cockades are indicated. Four little figures are on a slope (left) leading towards the dunghill, prepared to clear it away. In front are Blücher and Wellington, running forward, and talking to each other; one holds a spade, the other a broad hoe. Behind them is the Tsar, shouldering a pickaxe. Behind again stands Louis XVIII, with splayed gouty legs, supported on a crutch. He waves his hat to cheer them on."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Pedigree of Corporal Violet
Description:
Title etched below image., Text below title: First as a Consular Toadstool, rising from a Corsican Dunghill, then changing to an Imperial Sun Flower, from that to an Elba Fungus and lastly to a bunch of Violets, which are disposed as to represent a whole length of profile of Buonaparte, with a bust of Maria Louisa, and her son the Prince of Parma., and Companion print to: A view of the Grand Triumphal Pillar.
Publisher:
Pubd. by H. Humphrey June 9th, 1815 - No. 27 St. James's St.
Subject (Geographic):
France and France.
Subject (Name):
Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821, Marie Louise, Empress, consort of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1791-1847, Bonaparte, François-Charles-Joseph, Herzog von Reichstadt, 1811-1832, Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of, 1769-1852, Blücher, Gebhard Leberecht von, 1742-1819, Louis XVIII, King of France, 1755-1824, Bonaparte, François-Charles-Joseph, Herzog von Reichstadt, 1811-1832., Marie Louise, Empress, consort of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1791-1847., and Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821.
Subject (Topic):
Political satire, French, Politics and government, Mushrooms, and Flowers