| This German piece dates back to 1815 and is neither a caricature nor a satirical print. It is a wanted notice designed to help find the escaped prisoner from Elba.This notice features a portrait and gives a description of Napoleon: "small build", "thickset with a strong bone structure", with "small beady eyes, a hooked nose, a mocking mouth, a large chin and black shaggy hair", etc. The "delinquent" is also called "Nicolas", or "Père la Violette", which proves that these names had gone beyond the borders of France. Last but not least, he is pictured as the devil's son, an opinion that had spread well across Germany at the time. Anti-napoleonic attacks had seldom reached such an intensity: their British counterparts - such as the 1803 (Bonaparte, 48 hours after landing), had never been that violent. This was the result of the work of romantic or nationalistic intellectuals such as Görres, Arndt, Körner, Rückert. |
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| A1813 German variation on Gillray's caricature representing The king of Brodingnag and Gulliver which became famous in Germany as soon as it was published in 1803 in the magazine London and Paris. The caricature shows tsar Alexander I observing a tiny Napoleon during his flight from Russia on his way back to Paris. Such is the explanation of this illustration of the Latin quotation -which later became a saying- extracted from l’Imitation de Jésus-Christ. |
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| T. is none other than François Talma (1763-1826), the famous actor whom Napoleon met in June 1792 after a performance when he was but a captain in the artillery. The two men struck up a lasting friendship due to their common interest in Greek and modern tragedies. The Emperor's admiration for Corneille is a well-known fact. Talma, seen from the back, strikes the very same pose as Napoleon in Napoléon en Mars pacificateur, a sculpture made by Canova between 1803 and 1806 (London, Apsley House, and a bronze in Milan, court of the Brera). The print is organized in such a way as to suggest that the actor is teaching the Emperor how to pose. Yet the caricature goes beyond the mere representation of a dwarf-like Napoleon taking lessons in imperial elegance with the actor in order to become worthy of his rank: it suggests all the playacting, all the fuss made by the Empire, a vast artificial and ridiculous performance, at least from the Royalist point of view. Certain caricatures such as The New Farce which was performed in Paris with great success or The Wax-Maker's ruin are perfect illustrations of this. |
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-Desalles-Arenenberg, Napoleonmuseum.
| This caricature dates back to the first years of the second Restoration, right after Waterloo. It recalls a popular card-game, the "yellow dwarf" where players have to get rid of the card with the dwarf. In popular culture, the dwarf is associated with evil forces and chaos and they are meant to be supporting the Emperor in this satirical print. Once more, Napoleon is compared to the devil or an ogre, a common representation at the end of the Empire. But the caricature goes beyond this : the Nain Jaune was the name of a paper which exposed the members of the Ancien Régime back in France. The Royalists therefore saw the paper as one lending support to Napoleon. In fact, its founder, Cauchois-Lemaire (1789-1861), wanted to create a means of expression for freedom and truth. In consequence, he relaunched his paper in 1816 after having sought refuge in Belgium and founded an "anti-extinguisher" commission which was opposed to the monarchy without being in favour of Bonaparte. |
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-James Gillray-| Gillray pictures the relationship between Napoleon and Europe in the style of a fable. Such is this caricature which illustrates the bloodthirsty instincts of the Premier Consul, who, armed with a knife and an axe, is held back by a character who might be Talleyrand, the former bishop who is wearing a hat decorated with a cross. Many European countries have already been bled to death: the Swiss donkey, the Dutch pig, Prussia, which is held captive and fattened in its kennel, Germany, reduced to a kind of sausage, the little people of Rome imprisoned in a cage. Only Russia, symbolized by the bear busy teasing Napoleon on his butcher's shop doorstep, and England, symbolized by a bull bellowing on its island, remain to be beaten. |
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| This caricature, which has Italian and German versions, was one of the most published in Europe. The original print by Thomas Rowlandson, was issued in London on March 2, 1814 (see Grand-Carteret, p. 146, n° 284). Yet, inspiration for the caricature was provided by a German drawing of 1813, the postman theme being very vivid in German popular culture. The Emperor is depicted on his way back from Leipzig after having been beaten and is ready to cross the Rhine in Mainz. In his hand he is carrying Carlus Magnus' sceptre, various papers symbolizing his army and occupied countries (Italy, Holland, Switzerland, Poland, Germany, etc.) appear to be escaping from his bag. In the Rowlandson version, the Emperor was competing for speed with a hare which was taken out of the foreign versions. The animal alluded to Napoleon's alleged cowardice the caricaturists and lampoonists of the time referred to. |
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-Anonymous-| The first caricature on this two-fold plate is the Italian version of the Postman from the Rhine which was famous throughout Europe. The second caricature portrays Napoleon carrying both a donkey and a goat. An allegorical river (Italian caricatures often referred to great art) asks the Emperor where he found them. And the Emperor replies: « One outside Moscow (the donkey), and the other near Leipzig (the goat) ». The dialogue acts as a characterization of the Emperor: part donkey, part devil. |
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| This harsh parody first meets the eye as an official representation of the Emperor who is portrayed as kind of God of Light whose rays are in fact bayonets. Everything is upside down: Napoleon rules over war and over death whose sickle he is holding. At his feet are the crawling dogs symbolizing the ambitious upstarts at his service. This print is one of the best illustrations of the attempts made by the Royalist to present Napoleon as being the opposite of the Emperor of official representations. This print appears to be a project for a medal of the kind of those engraved by Andrieux for example. But Napoleon is compared with Cyrus, the founder of the acemenides' empire (558-528 B.C.), considered at the time as an eastern tyrant. |
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| This famous work by Gillray shows George III of England (whom the French
enjoyed portraying as a turkey/"dindon", an allusion to Georges Dandin in
Molière) having just caught Napoleon the fox after a traditional hunt in
Britain. He presents the fox to a pack of hounds, the British admirals: Nelson
(1758-1805), Cornwallis (1744-1819), Saint-Vincent (1734-1823), Sydney Smith
(1764-1840), who had all fought against the French in Toulon or in Egypt. The Tally-ho !
shouted by the king may have different interpretations: either it is the Tally-ho of the
huntsman sending his dogs off, or it is an allusion to the long-hoped capture of
Talleyrand, whom the English used to nickname Talley or Tally. This caricature also alludes to Napoleon's attempt at landing in England in 1803, after the rally of his army in Boulogne. It is also the first in a long series of caricatures based on the theme of Napoleon portrayed as a fox or a dog pursued by the allied forces. Another version of this print was published on April 12, 1814. A work by Rowlandson, it represents Blücher having just captured the Corsican fox. (Grand-Carteret, p. 151, n° 296 ; catal. expo. Boulogne-Billancourt, p. 28-29, n° 35). |
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-Ivan Terebenev-| The British caricatures set the trend for future works such as this print by Terebenev in which George III is shown going fox/Napoleon hunting. The artist is alluding here to the Russian campaign: a peasant, the shepherd, has just managed to capture the wolf/Napoleon and is calling back all the other shepherds, the monarchs of Europe, who had started to flee upon seeing the beast. He exclaims: « Be merry, fellow shepherds! You shall no longer have to bear the disappearance of your lambs; the beast has been captured. It only frightened those who could not catch it. Now that I have caught it, the way all shepherds used to do so in the past, I am no longer afraid of it. » This illustrated fable recalls the works of Ivan Andreïevitch Krylov (1768-1844), whose fables influenced La Fontaine and were very fashionable in Russia at the beginning of the 19th century. |
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| Removed by Napoleon in december 1806 and brought to Paris, the quadriga of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, by Johann Gottfried Schadow (1764-1850), was taken back by the Prussians in 1814. It then became a symbol of national pride and inspired many anti-napoleonic caricatures whose purpose was to celebrate the triumphant German nationalism as opposed to the unlucky Napoleon who is shown here attempting to keep the quadriga thanks to the efforts of a few nags. |
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-Louis-François Charon-| According to Charon's principle, this caricature is in keeping with several typical anti-bonapartist traits (Nicolas, tiger, death, revolutionary origins revolutionaries, etc ).Bonaparte unmasked (1814) provides us with the first true explanation of the given name Nicolas : « His real name is Antoine-Nicolas, but Nicolas not being elegant enough, he changed it into that of Napoleon » a name that is nowhere to be found. Nonetheless, the most interesting aspect of this caricature remains its subtitle (extravaganza)which links it to many other works which seem to form an itinerant play: The rue impériale menagerie, The wax-maker's ruin , The New Farce which was performed in Paris, etc. This caricature is therefore set out as a kind of popular drama in which Napoleon is in deep conversation with his two life-long companions: ambition and death. Pamphlets and caricatures therefore shared the same expression. |
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-Jean-Baptiste Gauthier-| The subject of tigers and cats was very often taken up by caricature. This particular work aims particularly at criticizing Napoleon's duplicity, his fraudulent political regime, his tyranny which are portrayed allegorically. France, which is identified with the Monarchy thanks to its mantle decorated with fleurs-de-lis, is shown removing the Emperor's human mask: a tiger's face appears underneath. |
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| This caricature is the French version of a German original drawing by Johann-Michael Voltz. It provides a perfect illustration of the way Napoleon's body was identified with his crimes and conquests. Piece after piece, the Emperor's figure is shown to contain works of art such as the Apollo of the Belvédère (stealing works of art), merchandise, skulls, and such elements as the laces he is holding in his hand, a metaphor of the rope General Pichegru used to hang himself in 1804. On his fingers, he bears an inscription which indicates general Moreau's name, and on his forearm, the duke of Enghien's execution is engraved. His sword is likened to a comet: the theme of the devilish meteor was particularly developed in Germany after the fall of the Empire. The cosmic and apocalyptic vision which this caricature so aptly illustrates was taken up during all the romantic period. Depending on the political orientation of the caricature, Napoleon was portrayed in turn as Apollo/Sun or Devil/Moloch. |
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-James Gillray-| This famous caricature was both adapted and changed in France in 1815 and given the following title:Four des Alliés ou le Corse près à être cuit/ the Oven of the Allies or the Corsican ready to be baked (see C. Clerc, p. 247, n° 119). Gillray's original print refers to the creation of the Rhine Federation in 1806 thanks to which Napoleon (who remains general Buonaparte for the English) put an end to the Holy Roman German Empire and created a series of allied Kingdoms of France: Wurtemberg, Bavaria, Saxony, Westphalia. Criticism is addressed to the "usurper" and to the little kings of Germany baked by Napoleon alike. |
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