File:'Buonaparte hearing of Nelson's Victory swears by his Sword to Extirpate the English from off the Earth' RMG PW3964.tiff
Original file (2,850 × 3,800 pixels, file size: 30.99 MB, MIME type: image/tiff)
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Captions
Summary[edit]
| Author |
H. Humphrey; James Gillray |
| Description |
English: 'Buonaparte hearing of Nelson's Victory swears by his Sword to Extirpate the English from off the Earth' Hand-coloured caricature 'Buonaparte hearing of Nelson's Victory swears by his Sword to Extirpate the English from off the Earth'. This is effectively a triumphalist mocking satire of Napoleon in Egypt, through celebratory reference to the resounding victory over the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile some four months earlier. The French leader is ridiculed as a set of contradictions. Gillray plays principally upon Napoleon’s stature, for which he is shown attempting to compensate by the extraordinary and extravagant uniform he wears, which is in marked contrast to that of the dispatch rider beyond. The latter (whose mount in the Egyptian context is transformed from a horse to a camel) looks on frozen in astonishment and fear at the uncontrolled outpouring his message has provoked in his leader, his leaden pose pointing up the overblown theatricality of Napoleon’s. The latter unleashes his sabre marked ‘Egalité’, but it is dripping with blood, like the dagger tucked into the fulsome tricolour sash around his waist. His ‘Muslim pose’, by which he tramples the report of Nelson’s victory, at the same time recalls David’s celebrated painting ‘The Oath of the Horatii’. In short, Napoleon is burlesqued as a contradictory combination of the personification of French Revolutionary principles and an orientalized despot, marked most clearly by the crescent moon on his enormous hat, the camel and the oriental tent in the background. The satire’s ridicule resides finally in the play of word and image that is typical of Gillray. Matching the swaggering pose and excessive costume of Napoleon is the unchecked stream of words he utters. The English viewer is invited to regard both his gestures and words as hollow and empty in the face of the victory at the Nile. |
| Date | Published 8 December 1798 |
| Dimensions | Mount: 557 x 405 mm |
| Notes | Box Title: Caricatures 10. Political: artists Hump-R. |
| Source/Photographer | http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/128099 |
| Permission (Reusing this file) |
The original artefact or artwork has been assessed as public domain by age, and faithful reproductions of the two dimensional work are also public domain. No permission is required for reuse for any purpose. The text of this image record has been derived from the Royal Museums Greenwich catalogue and image metadata. Individual data and facts such as date, author and title are not copyrightable, but reuse of longer descriptive text from the catalogue may not be considered fair use. Reuse of the text must be attributed to the "National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London" and a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-SA-3.0 license may apply if not rewritten. Refer to Royal Museums Greenwich copyright. |
| Identifier | Unidentified Prints & Drawings Number: 25 id number: PAF3964 |
| Collection | Fine art |
Licensing[edit]
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This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason:
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This photographic reproduction is therefore also considered to be in the public domain in the United States. In other jurisdictions, re-use of this content may be restricted; see Reuse of PD-Art photographs for details. | ||||
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| Date/Time | Thumbnail | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| current | 16:27, 18 September 2017 |  | 2,850 × 3,800 (30.99 MB) | Fæ (talk | contribs) | Royal Museums Greenwich Fine art (1798), http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/128099 #1974 |
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