"Napoleon presides at a feast with Josephine seated on his left. A sumptuous dessert is on the table, with dishes moulded to represent English buildings, &c. Napoleon has begun to devour 'St James's', but has dropped his fork, and looks round in horror at the words 'Mene Mene, Tekel, Upharsin' (l.) at which the arm of Jehovah points. This emerges from clouds, the other arm holds over the head of Napoleon a pair of scales; one, inscribed 'Vive le Roi', contains a crown and outweighs the other, 'Despotism', which flies in the air, spilling the contents, shackles and a bonnet rouge. The room is lined with grenadiers at attention, with drawn sabres and pistols in their belts; they are partly obscured by clouds, but their eyes are turned to the writing on the wall. This is also seen by three grenadiers who stand rigidly behind Napoleon's chair, their sabres dripping blood, their eyes turned to the left. Of those at the feast only Napoleon has seen the message, but the general on his right. looks with alarm at his master who has overturned three bottles of wine. The others are absorbed in food or women. Josephine, grossly fat, drinks avidly, spilling her wine. Behind her chair stand three slim and meretricious young women, looking down at her: they are scantily clad, with hair arranged in the French manner in snaky ringlets. They are Napoleon's three sisters, Elisa, Pauline, and Caroline. The upper end of the table stretches across the foreground. On the extreme left. Arthur O'Connor, the only civilian, ogles a lady, holding her chin and offering her a dish of 'Pommes d'Am[our]', while she holds up a tumbler of wine. In front of him is a decanter labelled 'Maidstone'. Between this lady and the general on Napoleon's r. is a grotesque officer greedily devouring a large fragment of the 'Tower de Londres'. An officer (r.) ogles a woman with whom he drinks wine. All the women have the patched faces that in these prints indicate dissoluteness. Two of the officers have the plucked scalp of the Frenchman in BMSat 9960. Before Napoleon is a dish containing the 'Bank of England', flying a tricolour flag. The back of his chair is decorated with a carved eagle or vulture whose eyes are turned to the fatal message. Before Josephine is a dish inscribed 'Prune Monsieur' containing two plums; beside it are two bottles of 'Maraschino', one overturned. The decollated head of a bishop fills a dish inscribed 'Oh de Roast Beef of Old England'. Wine, fruit, and jelly-glasses fill the spaces on the table."--British Museum online catalogue.
Alternative Title:
Handwriting upon the wall
Description:
Title etched below image.
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Bonaparte, Paolina,--1780-1825--Caricatures and cartoons., Caroline Bonaparte,--consort of Joachim Murat, King of Naples,--1782-1839--Caricatures and cartoons., Gillray, James, 1756-1815, publisher., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., 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., O'Connor, Arthur,--1763-1852--Caricatures and cartoons., and Piombino, Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi,--principessa di,--1777-1820--Caricatures and cartoons.
"A stout man in regimentals holds a greyhound on a leash; he looks with a sly smile towards a yokel (l.) who points to the left., as if to show the whereabouts of a hare. The officer slyly indicates with a forefinger two horses whose heads only appear on the extreme right. of the design. He has a curiously concave profile with a long chin. He wears (awry) a cocked hat with a damaged brim, and heavy jack-boots of Hessian type. The scene is open moorland."--British Museum online catalogue.
Description:
Approximate date of publication based on year mentioned in title., Printmaker identified as Gillray in the British Museum catalogue., Text following title: Dedicated to Mrs. T-d-r of Tenby, without permission, by her hble. sert. J.C. White., and Title etched below image.
Publisher:
H. Humprey, No. 27 St. James's Street
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership. and Harvey, Francis--Ownership.
"Three handsome young men, stooping slightly, walk languidly arm-in-arm along a pavement in profile to the left. They have a strong family resemblance, with variations in profile and in the size of their whiskers. They are dressed alike, except for differently curving hat-brims, in tail-coats with sleeves gathered at the shoulder, but without the clumsy bulk of the Jean-de-Bry, cf. BMSat 9425, stocks resembling those worn by Skeffington, see BMSat 9557, but less extravagantly swathed, frilled shirts, double-breasted outer waitcoats, riding-breeches, and boots with deep tops. Their long powdered hair is tied, and their coats are thickly frosted with powder, cf. BMSat 8190. They do not carry canes."--British Museum online catalogue.
Description:
Printmaker from British Museum catalogue. and Title etched below image.
Publisher:
H. Humprey, No. 27 St. James's Street
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., and Mathew, Montague James, 1773-1819--Caricatures and cartoons.
"In the upper part of the design the Recording Angel (or Truth) draws or engraves on an oval shield which she rests on a pedestal. On it are depicted French soldiers bayoneting defenceless Turks (apparently adapted from BMSat 10062). In the background are the head of a Sphinx, and clouds. Against the pedestal on which Truth stands rests a picture, filling the lower part of the design. Napoleon kneels on a rock, extending imploring arms towards Nilus, a nude and muscular figure seated on rock from which water gushes. Nilus veils and averts his head. In the background are pyramids and palm-trees."--British Museum online catalogue.
Alternative Title:
Frontispiece, Britannicus to Buonaparte : an heroic epistle
Description:
Frontispiece to the second edition of Britannicus to Buonaparte, an heroic epistle, with notes / by Henry Tresham. and Title devised by cataloger; varying form of title from British Museum catalogue.
Publisher:
J. Hatchard, No. 190 Piccadilly
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Hatchard, John, 1768-1849 publisher., Napoleon--I,--Emperor of the French,--1769-1821--Caricatures and cartoons., and Tresham, Henry, 1749?-1814 artist.
