"Two tiers of single English figures expressing appropriate opinions about the coronation of Napoleon."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Attributed to Charles Williams in dealer's description. Questionably attributed to Isaac Cruikshank in the British Museum online catalogue, registration no.: 1985,0119.188., Sheet trimmed to plate mark leaving thread margins., "Folios of caracatures [sic] lent out for the evening"--Below image in lower right., Not in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires., and Watermark.
Publisher:
Pubd. July 16th, 1804, by S.W. Fores, No. 50 Piccadilly
Subject (Geographic):
France and Great Britain.
Subject (Name):
Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821.
Subject (Topic):
Foreign public opinion, British, Public opinion, Soldiers, French, Sailors, and British
"Two designs placed side by side, the title so arranged that 'The Contrast' applies to both, the first four and last two words to the two designs respectively. [1] A scene outside Jaffa where the French flag flies from a fort on a rock at whose base are hospital tents (left), in which the sick can be seen. In the foreground Napoleon (a poor portrait) points with an imperious gesture to a bottle of 'Opium' in the hand of a distressed doctor in civilian dress. He says: "Don't talk to me of Humanity & the feelings of a generous heart, I say Poison those Sick dogs they are a burthen to me, & can no longer fight my Battles!!! I say destroy them - As for those Turks, them up in the Garrison, turn all the Guns upon them, Men, Women, & Children & blow them to atoms, they are too bold & resolute for me to suffer them to live, they are in my Way." In the middle distance (left) is a body of Turks, their arms tied behind them, guarded by a French soldier who points at Napoleon. Behind Napoleon two French officers exchange glances, acutely dismayed at the orders." ... [2] Two black soldiers, in neat regimentals, prepare to kill three haggard French officers. One raises an axe to smite a bound prisoner. Two British officers (left) interpose with outstretched arms; one says: "We know they are our Enemies, & yours, & the Enemies of all Mankind, nevertheless Humanity is so strongly planted in the Breast of an Englisman [sic], that he can become an humble beggar, for the lives, even of his enemies, when they are subdued." The other adds: "A mercy unexpected, undeserved surprises more."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Contrast to English humanity
Description:
Title etched below image., Attributed to Charles Williams in the British Museum catalogue., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., Publisher's advertisement in lower right: Folios of caracatures [sic] lent out for the evening., and Mounted on a 19th-century blue album sheet. On the verso are newspaper clippings on a variety of topics: Sir Lionel Darell and the benevolence of the King to grant him land for his greenhouses in Richmond Park; "Observations on the rot of sheep"; Poem entitled "Leamington Spa"; "Balloon Ascension" an extract from a letter from Bristol, dated Sept 26.; an report of the death of Simon Southward, a miller who was a prisoner for 43 years for debt and the delusion of being the Earl of Derby.
Publisher:
Pubd. Jany. 13, 1804, by S.W. Fores, No. 50 Piccadilly
Subject (Name):
Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821
Subject (Topic):
Black people, Flags, French, Forts & fortifications, Tents, Military medicine, Sick persons, Soldiers, Physicians, Opium, Military officers, Prisoners of war, Turkish, British, Physical restraints, and Axes
"Gunboats in the form of coffins are foundering or about to founder. Each has a single cannon in the bows, and a mast with a triangular sail whose corner is held in the teeth of the skull which surmounts the mast. The crews all wear shrouds and bonnets rouges; on the skulls also are bonnets rouges. Some of the men are screaming in the water, where a floating skull holds the end of a sail in its teeth, looking round fiercely at one of the drowning men. Others are still in the coffin-gunboats, holding muskets or making gestures of despair. One says: "Oh de Corsican Bougre, was make dese Gun Boats on purpose for our Funeral." In the background are two British men of war. Two tiny sailors say: "I say Messmate if we dont bear up quickly there will be nothing left for us to do", and, "Rigt [sic] Tom, & I take them there things at the mast head to be Boney's Crest, a Skull without Brains." A satire on the manifest impracticability of an invasion (see British Museum Satires No. 10008) by gunboats without the command of the sea, cf. British Museum Satires Nos. 9995, &c, 10125, 10223, 10231, 10260, 10277."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Boney's invincible armada half seas over
Description:
Title etched below image., Attributed to Charles Williams in the British Museum catalogue., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., Publisher's advertisement beneath imprint: Folios of caracatures lent out for the evening., Printseller's stamp in lower right corner: S.W.F., and Mounted at the corners: 30 x 42 cm.
Publisher:
Pubd. Jany. 6th, 1804, by S.W. Fores, 50 Piccadilly
Subject (Name):
Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821.
Subject (Topic):
Napoleonic Wars, 1800-1815, Proposed invasion of England, 1793-1805, Coffins, Gunboats, Cannons, Rifles, Skulls, Liberty cap, Drowning, Warships, and British