Broken gingerbread

description below

“A sequel to British Museum Satires No. 10518, Gillray’s ‘Tiddy-Doll’. Napoleon, haggard and desperate, wearing tattered uniform without the former apron and sword, walks in profile to the left, carrying on his head a large tray. On this stand three gingerbread kings, burlesqued and mutilated, with two queens, a detached head (crowned), and (right) a pile of imperial emblems: crowns, mitre, sceptre, eagle, flag, &c. On the left a bonnet rouge hangs from a staff. In the middle stands an imperial eagle with a tricolour flag to which is tied a broom showing that the contents of the tray are for sale. Napoleon says (with grimly closed mouth): “Buy my Image! Here’s my nice little Gingerbread Emperor & Kings Retail and for Exportation!” Behind him is a tumbledown thatched hovel; over an aperture where more gingerbread figures are displayed is a board: ‘Tiddy-Doll Gingerbread Baker. NB Removed from Paris.’ Above fly three of the (carrion) birds associated in these prints with Elba. Napoleon walks towards the sea; across the water (in France) tiny figures dance holding hands round a white flag inscribed ‘Vivent les Bourbons’ and topped by a fleur-de-lis. Behind them is the gable-end of a rustic inn: ‘The Kings Head New Revived’. A fiddler capers on the edge of the cliff, watching Napoleon.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Cruikshank, George, 1792-1878, printmaker.
  • Title: Broken gingerbread [graphic] / G.H. invt. ; G. Cruikshank fect.
  • Publication: [London] : Pubd. April 21st, 1814, by H. Humphrey, St. James’s Street, [21 April 1814]

Catalog Record

814.04.21.01

Acquired November 2023

The coffin expedition, or, Boney’s invincible armada half seas over

 

description below

“Gunboats in the form of coffins are foundering or about to founder. Each has a single cannon in the bows, and a mast with a triangular sail whose corner is held in the teeth of the skull which surmounts the mast. The crews all wear shrouds and bonnets rouges; on the skulls also are bonnets rouges. Some of the men are screaming in the water, where a floating skull holds the end of a sail in its teeth, looking round fiercely at one of the drowning men. Others are still in the coffin-gunboats, holding muskets or making gestures of despair. One says: “Oh de Corsican Bougre, was make dese Gun Boats on purpose for our Funeral.” In the background are two British men of war. Two tiny sailors say: “I say Messmate if we dont bear up quickly there will be nothing left for us to do”, and, “Rigt [sic] Tom, & I take them there things at the mast head to be Boney’s Crest, a Skull without Brains.” A satire on the manifest impracticability of an invasion (see British Museum Satires No. 10008) by gunboats without the command of the sea, cf. British Museum Satires Nos. 9995, &c, 10125, 10223, 10231, 10260, 10277.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Williams, Charles, active 1797-1830, printmaker.
  • Title: The coffin expedition, or, Boney’s invincible armada half seas over [graphic].
  • Publication: [London] : Pubd. Jany. 6th, 1804, by S.W. Fores, 50 Piccadilly, [6 January 1804]

Catalog Record

804.01.06.01

Acquired November 2023

The grand coronation of Her Most Graceless Majesty C-r-l–e Columbina

description below

“A burlesque coronation of the Queen. She sits enthroned on a dais, raising her right foot with tipsy joviality. In her right hand as sceptre is a rod topped by a tiny cask which a naked Bacchus bestrides. The orb in her left hand is a decanter; on her head is a tilting punch-bowl. She watches her champion Wood (left) (acting the part of Dymoke, cf. British Museum Satires No. 14193), a grotesque figure in armour on a caparisoned ass (see British Museum Satires No. 14146). He has just thrown down the glove, pulling his braying mount on to its haunches, and looks up with a fatuous stare at the Queen. His helmet is topped by an owl from which clouds of smoke ascend (cf. British Museum Satires No. 14196). John Bull (right), a ‘cit’ wearing an ill-fitting wig and top-boots, stoops to pick up the glove, supporting himself by a cudgel inscribed My God My King a[nd my] Country. Between these two foreground figures stands a ragged newsboy holding his horn, the paper in his cap inscribed Brandy burgh [cf. British Museum Satires No. 14191] Gazette; slung from his shoulders is a large sheaf of his newspaper, Brandyburg Gazette Extraordinary–Baron B…..i to be Il Baron par Excellence–Ad- W – – d to be Earl Log [see British Museum Satires No. 14189]–Lady A H [Anne Hamilton] to be Spinster for Life–L. H – – d to be Marquis Doodle. Attendants are grouped round the Queen on the dais, which is under festooned curtains. These are (left to right): Denman and Brougham, in wig and gown, applauding and gesturing; two turbaned Turks; Bergami, handsome and complacent, at the Queen’s right hand. Slightly behind are a simian face, Lady Anne Hamilton wearing the feathered Scots cap of British Museum Satires No. 14175, and another woman, Italian in appearance (probably Countess Oldi). Behind the Queen’s chair on the right are two hooded figures, the more prominent, who holds a decanter, being Viscount Hood, the other perhaps Keppel Craven. Two naval officers must be Hownam and Flinn. On the canopy of the throne behind the Queen are her arms; the quarterings are wine-glasses, bottles, a tent (see British Museum Satires No. 13818), and a bath containing a tiny figure (see British Museum Satires No. 13819). The supporters are a satyr and a goat; the motto, Bergami and My Bottle [see British Museum Satires No. 14175]. On the extreme left, supported on Gothic arches, is a gallery crowded with ladies, as in Westminster Abbey at the Coronation. On a lower level, seen through the arches of the Abbey, is a dense proletarian crowd with banners, pikes, and caps of Liberty. The characters are indicated by inscriptions divided by vertical lines, as in British Museum Satires No. 14182, and centred by a cartouche. These are (left to right): Mobility in Attendance. The Champion of Absolute Wisdom [see British Museum Satires No. 13899] on his renowned Steed. The Keepers of her Majesty’s Conscience [her Counsel]. Her Majesty’s Lord Great Chamberlain Her Majesty’s Privy Counsellor Knight Commander of the Bath Chief Performer of the Canopy Service and Courier Extraordinary [Bergami]. Hooded Doodles in Waiting [Lord Hood and his companion]. Barons of the Bedposts. Performers of the Canopy Service [the naval officers]. In the cartouche: If any Person of what degree soever, high or low, shall deny or gainsay our Puppet C . r . l . . e Columbina [see British Museum Satires No. 14120] of Brandy-burgh House, of the United Kingdoms of Soberness and Chastity, Defender of the easy Virtues &c &c the Right of being Crowned with a crown Bowl of Imperial Punch, or that she should not enjoy the same, here is her Champion, who saith he doth not care a Drug, being ready in person to lay a bet that she is, and in this wager will venture his Eighteen Pence against a Shilling wherever, and whenever his Adversary may choose.”–British Museum online catalogue.

 

  • Printmaker: Lane, Theodore, 1800-1828, printmaker.
  • Title: The grand coronation of Her Most Graceless Majesty C-r-l–e Columbina, the first queen of all the radicals &c &c &c, July 19th, 1821 [graphic].
  • Publication: London : Pubd. by G. Humphrey, 27 St. James’s Street, August 6th, 1821.

Catalog Record

821.08.06.01+

Acquired March 2020

The funeral procession of the rump

see description below

  • Printmaker: Cruikshank, George, 1792-1878, printmaker, artist.
  • Title: The funeral procession of the rump [graphic] / G. Cruikshank invt. et fect.
  • Publication: [London] : Pubd. March 22d, 1819, by G. Humphrey, 27 St. James’s St., London, [22 March 1819]

Catalog Record

Drawer 819.03.22.03

Acquired June 2019

 

National love!

Caricature of Queen Caroline, accompanied by Bergami

Caricature of Queen Caroline, accompanied by Bergami, crowning with a wreath a bust with a Phrygian cap in the palace of Murat, accompanied by Pauline Borghese to whom a courtier hands a card labelled ‘Principessa Paulina’.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Lane, Theodore, 1800-1828, printmaker.
  • Title: National love! [graphic].
  • Publication: London : Published by G. Humphrey, 27 St. James’s St., June 1st, 1821.

Catalog Record 

821.06.01.06

Acquired March 2019

The man wots got the whip hand of ’em all

The man wots got the whip hand of 'em all. Detailed description below

“A hand printing-press of metal (a Stanhope Press), supported on the stout legs of a man in breeches which seem to belong to a John Bull, puts to flight mere pigmy humans: two flee to the right, one propelled by a kick from a huge buckled shoe; two others have fallen. Two levers or handles serve as arms; one has a hand which grasps a giant pen, the feather entwined with three serpents which spit flame at the departing legs and cocked hat of Wellington, who, kicked into the air, disappears behind the upper right margin of the design. Another pair of legs, with the black stockings and buckled shoes of Eldon, project from the upper left margin; beside them a single leg and a broom indicate the departing Brougham. A second lever supports a print, ‘The Man Wot Drives The Sovereign’, copied from British Museum satires no. 15731; a flame issues from the press, threatening to scorch or destroy the print. The press is topped by a cap of Liberty inscribed ‘Free Press’ and encircled with a wreath. A little demon (a printer’s devil) rushes towards the press from the left, holding up a big ink-ball.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Heath, William, 1795-1840, printmaker.
  • Title: The man wots got the whip hand of ’em all [graphic].
  • Publication: [London] : Pub. May 30th, 1829, by T. McLean, 26 Haymarket …, [30 May 1829]

Catalog Record 

829.05.30.01+

Acquired October 2018