"Catherine II, seated on the throne, eagerly receives the heads of Poles offered to her by a ferocious-looking officer. Three attendants advance behind him with baskets filled with heads of young women and children; the foremost kneels, holding out his basket, the next carries a basket on his shoulders; above it flies a demon. On the extreme right, on a pedestal, is the bust of Fox by Nollekens (see BMSat 7902), looking wryly over his right shoulder at the Empress. The officer, Suvóroff, holds out by the hair to the Empress three heads, one of which she touches with a finger. His sleeves are rolled up; in his left hand is a bunch of heads, under his left arm a long bloody sword and a document: 'Articles of Capitulation Warsaw'. On his short top-boots are enormous spurs. He says: "Thus my Royal Mistress have I fulfilled in the fullest extent your Tender Affectionate & Maternal Commission to those Deluded People of Poland, & have brought you the Pickings of Ten Thousand Heads tenderly detached from their deluded bodies the Day after Capitulation." The Empress answers: "My Dear General you have well Executed your Commission; but could not you prevail on any of the Polish Women to Poison their Husbands?" (An allusion to the murder of Peter III, cf. BMSat 8072.) To the demon she says: "Go my little Ariel & prepare our Altars for these pretty Sacrifices, we must have te Deum on the Occasion." The demon, a nude bat-winged creature, says: "Bravo this outdoes the Poison Scene." The Empress wears ermine-trimmed robes and holds a sceptre, but does not (as usual) wear a crown. Beside her (left) lies a bear, only the head and forepaws being visible."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Printmaker from British Museum catalogue., Sheet trimmed to plate mark on three sides., Later state with addition of letter 's' in 'heads' in Suvorov's speech balloon., Temporary local subject terms: Reference to the Battle of Warsaw, November 1794., Matted to 47 x 63 cm.; printmaker's and subjects' names printed on mat below image., and Printseller's stamp in lower right corner: S.W.F.
Publisher:
Pub. January 7, 1795, by S.W. Fores, N. 3 Piccadilly
Subject (Geographic):
Praga (Warsaw, Poland) and Russia
Subject (Name):
Catherine II, Empress of Russia, 1729-1796, Suvorov, Aleksandr Vasilʹevich, kni︠a︡zʹ Italiĭskiĭ, 1730-1800, and Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806
