21.
- Creator:
- Rowlandson, Thomas, 1756-1827, printmaker
- Published / Created:
- [6 December 1813]
- Call Number:
- Auchincloss Rowlandson v. 12
- Image Count:
- 1
- Resource Type:
- still image
- Abstract:
- "Napoleon, surrounded by the Powers of Europe who puff smoke at him, dances, frantic with rage and fear, upon the head of a large cask of 'Real Hollands Geneva'. The cask-head tilts under his feet, the contents splash out, and he is on the point of disappearing inside it. On the cask are the words: 'The Fly that sips Treacle is lost in the sweet' [Gay, 'Beggar's Opera']. The most prominent smoker, nearest the cask on the left, is a fat Dutchman in bulky breeches, with a big orange cockade in his small hat. He sits on a small barrel inscribed 'Dutch Herrings' and 'Crimp Cod' and leans forward and to the right, puffing upwards a cloud of smoke. In his left hand he holds up his long pipe, his right is on the handle of a jug inscribed 'Success to his Serene Highness'. Beside him are a 'Dutch Cheese' [cf. British Museum Satires No. 9412], a 'Tobacco Pouch', three closely coiled twists of tobacco, and a jug of 'Dutch Drops' [a balsam or popular nostrum, prepared with oil of turpentine, nitric ether, &c. 'O.E.D.'; see British Museum Satires No. 12118]. Almost equally prominent is an obese John Bull, a 'cit' holding a pipe and a frothing tankard of 'Brown Stout', who stands close to the cask in profile to the left, looking up with amused satisfaction, a cloud of smoke rising from his mouth. Next him and on the right, a Prussian hussar sits on a cannon, holding a pipe with a long curved stem, and turning a grotesque profile toward Napoleon. Behind John Bull is a (?) Hanoverian wearing a helmet, puffing steadily. Above them and near the upper margin are four heads: one very close to Napoleon, emerging from cloud, is perhaps a Saxon. A man wearing a high fur-bordered cap is probably a Russian, and a profile smoking a pipe with an ornate bowl may be Swedish. The man on the extreme right smoking a German pipe may represent Bavaria. On the left, standing behind the Dutchman, the bulky King of Würtemberg is conspicuous. His antique dress, with a long flowered and gold-laced waistcoat, is reminiscent of the caricatures of his courtship and marriage, see British Museum Satires No. 9014, &c. He holds a bottle of 'Wirtemberg Drops', and smokes a large curved German pipe. Above him are the heads of two men, an Austrian and a Spanish don, probably the Emperor of Austria and Ferdinand of Spain. Napoleon stands among clouds of smoke, which also form a background to the heads. He storms: "Oh you base Traitors and Deserters. Eleven Hundred Thousand Lads of Paris [cf. British Museum Satires No. 12113, &c.] shall roast every one of you alive, as soon as they can catch you!"."--British Museum online catalogue
- Description:
- Title etched below image., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., and Mounted on leaf 49 of volume 12 of 14 volumes.
- Publisher:
- Pubd. December 6th, 1813, by R. Ackermann, No. 101 Strand
- Subject (Name):
- Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821, Frederick I, King of Württemberg, 1754-1816, Ferdinand VII, King of Spain, 1784-1833, and Francis I, Emperor of Austria, 1768-1835
- Subject (Topic):
- John Bull (Symbolic character)
- Found in:
- Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library > Funcking the Corsican [graphic]
