Original antique engraving by James Gillray. From the Bohn edition of 1851, using Gillray's original copper plates. With later hand colouring.
The artwork commemorates Admiral Horatio Nelson's decisive victory over the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile on August 1, 1798.
Gillray uses a biblical metaphor, framing the French invaders as the plagues of Egypt. They are depicted as "revolutionary crocodiles" wearing tricolor ribbons.
Nelson is portrayed as a colossal, heroic figure standing knee-deep in the Nile. He is depicted as a "modern demi-god" combining the traits of Hercules and Moses.
Nelson wields a club labeled "British Oak" to dispatch the crocodiles, symbolizing British naval strength.
Nelson holds cords attached to hooks that transfix the jaws of nine crocodiles, representing the nine French ships captured during the battle.
One large crocodile in the background is shown exploding from within, a direct reference to the destruction of the French flagship L'Orient.
Published just four days after news of the victory reached London, the print was a piece of patriotic propaganda. It shifted the perception of the French from a terrifying threat to a group of "writhing" pests being easily cleared by British heroism.
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".
