Original antique engraving first published in 1804, This copy is from the Bohn edition of 1851, the last time Gillray's own copper plates were used to make prints.
The image depicts an ugly, blood-stained female figure representing France as a savage "virago," dandling a tiny, infantile Napoleon Bonaparte. satirizes Napoleon's self-appointment as Emperor in May 1804 and his impending coronation in December of that year, presenting him as a mere child being manipulated by Revolutionary France.
The figure of France, wearing a Bonnet Rouge, is seated on a chair decorated with a guillotine and decapitated heads. In one bloodied hand, she holds a rattle topped with a crown, towards which the tiny Napoleon eagerly points, holding a small scepter.
Beside her are a bloodied spear and a shield bearing the bleeding head of King Louis XVI, above a reversed crown, with the inscriptions "Vive la Republique" and "The last of kings". This imagery contrasts the figure with the traditional, noble depictions of Britannia, highlighting the violence and hypocrisy of the French Revolution in the eyes of the British public.
The print includes a quote from Shakespeare'sKing Learbeneath the image, which describes the characteristics of tyranny and madness: "'False of Heart, light of Ear, bloody of Hand / Fox in Stealth, Wolf in Greediness, Dog in Madness / Lion in Prey: - bless thy Five Wits'".
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".
