Hell hounds rallying round the idol of France

description below

“A colossal but life-like bust of Napoleon is placed on a mound of decollated human heads. He gazes fixedly upwards in profile to the left; round his neck and bare breast is twisted a noose of rope. Round this idol dance demons with human heads, holding hands. They are naked except for head-coverings, and have horns, hairy legs, tail, with one leg terminating in a cloven hoof, the other in the claw of a bird of prey. These ‘Hell Hounds’ have labels hanging from a collar of rope, showing that they are ‘Caulincourt’, ‘Fouché’, ‘Savory’, with a pen in his hat (he succeeded Fouché as Minister of Police in 1810), ‘Vandamme’, ‘Davoust’, ‘Ney’, ‘Lefebre’. Two demons fly towards the emperor, holding a large wreath which is on fire, with the inscription ‘He Deserves A Crown of Pitch.’ This they are about to place on the idol’s head, towards which gallops through the air a small demon (right) on a goat, blowing a horn. In the foreground lie dead and dying soldiers, one is decapitated, another (right) is naked and has lost an arm which he holds out with an agonized expression towards the idol. In the background (left) soldiers are feeding a bonfire with ‘English Goods’. On the right is a blazing town.”–British Museum online catalogue.

 

  • Printmaker: Rowlandson, Thomas, 1756-1827, printmaker.
  • Title: Hell hounds rallying round the idol of France [graphic].
  • Publication: [London] : Pubd. April 8, 1815, by R. Ackermann, No. 101 Strand, [8 April 1815]

Catalog record

815.04.08.01+

Acquired November 2022

Tirania

description below

Ferdinand VII, seated on a throne on a low platform inscribed “TIRANIA”, is flanked by two advisers, the Devil on the left and a friar on the right. At the friar’s feet, in the foreground, a demon burns newspapers with a firebrand. Tortures of the Inquisition are seen in the background.

  • Title: Tirania [graphic].
  • Publication: [London?] : Washington, pubd. Novr. 1818.

Catalog Record

818.11.00.01+

Acquired March 2020

A pair of specticals

A pair of specticals

Political satire: With billows of smole behind it, a skeleton holding a noose and pointing to his eye dances to the left of Napoleon who stands pointing at it. In the right background is a gallows with a group of soliders standing in the distance below.

Mounted on a former album leaf; newspaper clippings dating from 1817 and 1818 are pasted on verso of mount covering a range of topics including: small pox, post horse duties, poor rate, three cases of debtors, two work related accidents, and a short humorous piece on the streets of Paris and the price of wine.

  • Title: A pair of specticals [sic] easely seen through [graphic].
  • Publication: [London] : Pub. 17 June 1813 by T. Tegg, Cheapside, London, [17 June 1813]

Catalog Record 

813.06.17.01+

Acquired March 2019