Plate from the 'Anti-Jacobin Review', ii. 233: On the extreme right the Devil holds up a canvas, 'le Tableau Parlant', which terrifies twelve Irishmen grouped round an oblong table. In their alarm the heavy table has been overturned, some are on the ground, others (left) flee in terror. The Devil, who looks round the edge of his picture, wears a bonnet-rouge inscribed 'Anarchy'; labels hang from his horn: 'Blasph[emy]' and 'Parracide'. He says "Stew it well - It cannot be Overdone for you and me". In the picture, 'Irish Stew I A Favourite Disk for French Palates', two French soldiers superintend the boiling of a Revolutionary Pot, in which stand three naked Irishmen shrieking for mercy; one says: "Liberty of being Stewed"; the other, "Equality - all to be stewed en Masse". Above the table five harpies fly off with a tattered cloth inscribed 'Map of Ireland'. They are intended for the Directors, three having belts inscribed 'Tallien' (not a Director), 'Barras', and 'Le Paux'. On the table is a paper, 'United Irishmen'. The Irishmen make gestures of terror or despair. Most look at the picture, one looks upwards, saying: "Poor Erin How thourt torn to pieces by these five Harpies." A fugitive looks round to say "What your own A. O Connor too!" A lawyer (? Curran): "So much for Republicani[sm] and glorious Independence! No Money! No Lawyer." A monk: "By St Patrick a complete Catholic Emancipation." Three others say: "I now howl in Vain - We are all gone to Pot"; "Brother John [Bull] would not have treated us so -" ; "My Merits with the Republic should have saved me, but I find we must all stew together" [he is perhaps Grattan]; "A Radical Reform by Jasus". Beside the last speaker, a ragged peasant, lies a bundle of pikes, &c.
Description:
Plate from: The Anti-Jacobin review and magazine. London, 1799, v. 2, page 233, Printmaker from British Museum catalogue., Temporary local subject terms: United Irishmen -- Maps: map of Ireland torn by demons -- Reference to the French Revolution -- Allusion to the Directory -- Allusion to anarchy -- Pictures: le tableau parlant., and Title etched below image.
Publisher:
T. Whittle, Peterborough Court, Fleet Street, for the Anti Jacobin Review
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Barras, Paul,--vicomte de,--1755-1829--Caricatures and cartoons., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Laurie & Whittle, publisher., and Tallien, Jean-Lambert,--1767-1820--Caricatures and cartoons.
"Below the title: 'Barrass (then in Power) being tired of Josephine, promised Buonaparte a promotion, on condition that he would take her off his hands; - Barrass had, as usual, drank freely, & placed Buonaparte behind a Screen, while he amused himself with these two Ladies, who were then his humble dependents, - Madame Talian is a beautiful Woman, tall & elegant; - Josephine is smaller & thin, with bad Teeth, something like Cloves, - it is needless to add that Buonaparte accepted the Promotion & the Lady, - now, - Empress of France!' In the centre of the design the two women dance, veiled by transparent drapery which is framed by a heavy festooned curtain. On the r., in full light, sits Barras, lolling tipsily in an ornate armchair. On the left., in shadow, Bonaparte lifts the curtain to stare intently at Josephine. The women are naked, except for gartered stockings, slippers, bracelets, and barbaric ear-rings. They dance, beating tambourines, and are as described, Mme Tallien in back view, Josephine directed towards Bonaparte but looking over her right. shoulder. Their hair hangs in snaky locks below the waist. Barras' chair or Directorial throne has a draped canopy, its back is surmounted by a realistic figure of an infant Bacchus among grapes wearing a bonnet rouge and holding up a full glass and a bottle resembling a Chianti flask. Similar flasks and a cornucopia with grapes flank the Bacchus. Barras, bloated and brandy-faced, holds a glass, spilling the contents. Before him is an ornate round writing-table; its legs are carved with satyrs' heads and terminate in hooves. A decanter of 'Burgundy' stands on a paper headed 'Egypt'; 'Commission pour Buonaparte', above the signature, 'Barrass'. There is also a bottle of 'Mareschino', decanters, and glasses. Other bottles and a broken glass lie on the floor. On the wall an oval frame is inscribed 'Messalina'; the picture is hidden by the curtain framing the dancers. Bonaparte leans forward, holding his cocked hat behind his back. He wears a long military coat with heavy sword and boots. Behind him is a high folding screen. On this are skulls wearing bonnets rouges, and, above, partly concealed by the curtain, a shadowy crown. On another leaf (l.) a little Cupid, blowing a pipe, rides a crocodile, pyramids and palm-trees forming a background (cf. BMSat 11057)."--British Museum online catalogue.
Alternative Title:
Madame Talian and the Empress Josephine dancing naked before Barrass in the winter of 1797
Description:
Title etched below image.
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Barras, Paul,--vicomte de,--1755-1829--Caricatures and cartoons., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., Josephine,--Empress, consort of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French,--1763-1814--Caricatures and cartoons., Napoleon--I,--Emperor of the French,--1769-1821--Caricatures and cartoons., and Tallien, Thérésia Cabarrus,--1773-1835--Caricatures and cartoons.