"A colossal but life-like bust of Napoleon is placed on a mound of decollated human heads. He gazes fixedly upwards in profile to the left; round his neck and bare breast is twisted a noose of rope. Round this idol dance demons with human heads, holding hands. They are naked except for head-coverings, and have horns, hairy legs, tail, with one leg terminating in a cloven hoof, the other in the claw of a bird of prey. These 'Hell Hounds' have labels hanging from a collar of rope, showing that they are 'Caulincourt', 'Fouché', 'Savory', with a pen in his hat (he succeeded Fouché as Minister of Police in 1810), 'Vandamme', 'Davoust', 'Ney', 'Lefebre'. Two demons fly towards the emperor, holding a large wreath which is on fire, with the inscription 'He Deserves A Crown of Pitch.' This they are about to place on the idol's head, towards which gallops through the air a small demon (right) on a goat, blowing a horn. In the foreground lie dead and dying soldiers, one is decapitated, another (right) is naked and has lost an arm which he holds out with an agonized expression towards the idol. In the background (left) soldiers are feeding a bonfire with 'English Goods'. On the right is a blazing town."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Attributed to Rowlandson by Grego., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., and Unidentified collector's stamp on verso.
Publisher:
Pubd. April 8, 1815, by R. Ackermann, No. 101 Strand
Subject (Name):
Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821
Subject (Topic):
Idols, Nooses, Demons, Heads (Anatomy), Decapitations, War casualties, Soldiers, and Dismemberment
"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