Original antique engraving by James Gillray. From the Bohn edition of 1851, using Gillray's original copper plates. With later hand colouring.
"Destruction of the French Gun-Boats—or—Little Boney & his Friend Talley in high Glee" was first published on November 22, 1803, by Hannah Humphrey. This print is from the Bohn edition of 1851.
The image was created during the Napoleonic Wars when the threat of a French invasion of Britain was at its peak. Gillray uses the caricature to mock Napoleon's military ambitions and portray him as a heartless leader.
The satire suggests that the planned invasion was actually a scheme by Napoleon and his diplomat, Talleyrand, to eliminate internal opposition. By sending 100,000 "French Cut Throats" to certain death against the British navy, Napoleon could rid himself of men he feared.
Napoleon ("Little Boney") is depicted as a tiny, puppet-like figure perched on Talleyrand's shoulder.
Talleyrand is shown in a general's uniform with a bishop's mitre as his hat, symbolizing his dual past as a clergyman and a politician.
Napoleon peers through a rolled-up document titled "Talleyrand's plan for INVADING Great Britain" as if it were a telescope.
In the background, the French flotilla is being decimated by British shells near the coast of Dover.
Napoleon is shown shouting with joy: "O my dear Talley, what a glorious sight!... I shall now get rid of a hundred-Thousand French Cut Throats whom I was so afraid of!... Bravo, Johnny!—pepper 'em, Johnny!". This dialogue references his "Egyptian Poisoning" (the 1799 incident at Jaffa), suggesting this new "slaughter" is even more effective for his goals.
Gillray was one of five children, and the only one to survive to maturity. In 1770 he was apprenticed to Harry Ashby, a London writing in engraver, and five years later W. Humphrey published a few of Gillray's illustrations including satirical works. By the time Gillray commenced his career satire was old, but personal caricature was in its infancy. Other exponents in this form of art were soon overshadowed by Gillray's superior craftsmanship. His figures were full of vitality, titillating and reflective of some political crisis or private scandal. As his popularity increased so did demand by the public to see more of his work. In the rapidly changing politics of the late18th century he would produce a plate in twenty-four hours. Although sometimes overlooked his speech bubbles were elaborate and Gillray would spend considerable time composing and redrafting the text.
Between 1791 to 1807 his career continued successfully in association with William and Hannah Humphrey. There after Gillray's health began to suffer. He eventually slipped into madness and died shortly before the Battle of Waterloo on June 1st 1815. Hannah, who had a close relationship with him nursed Gillray through out his final years and following his death the copper plates then formed part of Hannah's estate when she died in 1818. The executor's of Hannah's estate sold Gillray's painstakingly worked plates for there second hand copper weight. Hearing of this, the then publisher, Bohn who had previously expressed an interest in buying the plates set about purchasing them from a variety of different sources. Eventually acquiring over 500. In 1851 Bohn republished the engravings in a large folio volume, "The Works of James Gillray".
