Original antique engraving by James Gillray. Originally published in 1806, this print is from the Bohn Edition of 1851.
Tiddy Doll was the trade name of an itinerant gingerbread baker well remembered in London for selling his biscuits at public events such as fairs and markets or wherever crowds gathered. He also appears in Hogarth's "The Idle Prentice Executed". His sales patter included the nonsense refrain of "ti-ti, tid-dy ti-ddy, dol." which gave him his name Tiddy Doll.
Gillray capitalizes on the gingerbread baker's enduring fame to portray Napoleon Buonaparte as a modern day Tiddy Doll, manufacturing European leaders as quickly and easily as gingerbread men. The print was likely inspired by the bad news from Dutch and French newspapers of Buonaparte's victory at Austerlitz, and the first rumors of the humiliating terms of what was to become the Treaty of Pressburg.
The Dutch and French papers, which have arrived, contain intelligence of considerable importance. The conclusion of peace between France and Austria is certain, and both Bavaria and Wirtemberg are to be made into Kingdoms.
Gillray shows Buonaparte making Kings, drawing out a freshly baked set for Bavaria, Wirtemberg, and Baden from his "New French Oven for Imperial Gingerbread." The oven is appropriately fueled by a mound of cannonballs, representing his recent military triumphs at Ulm, and especially at Austerlitz.
Beneath the open mouth of the oven is the "Ash Hole for broken Gingerbread," in front of which is the "Corsican Besom [i.e. Broom] of Destruction". Among the countries that have been swept to destruction by the Corsican-born Buonaparte are Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Holland, and now Austria.
Napoleon is assisted in his work by the club-footed "Hopping Talley" (Talleyrand) his wily strategist and foreign minister, who is shown standing before a "Political Kneading Trough" where he prepares the dough for future Kings. Countries in the mix include Hungary, Poland, and Turkey. Meanwhile, as theMorning Chronicle suggests, Hanover is being turned over to the Prussian Eagle. Talleyrand had been a Catholic Bishop of Autun earlier in his career, so he is shown wearing bishop's robes and mitre, with a rosary hanging from his belt. He was also Napoleon's chief negotiator of treaties (including Pressburg) so he is also shown with quills and ink.
Next to the oven is a chest with drawers labeled "Kings & Queens," "Crowns & Sceptres," and "Suns & Moons." On top of the chest, according to the note pinned on the wall, are "Little Dough Viceroys intended for the next new Batch." They include English Whigs to be rewarded (presumably) for their pro-French stance since the revolution: Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Charles James Fox, Sir Francis Burdett (behind Fox), Lord Moira, George Tierney, and Lord Derby.
Finally, in the far left foreground, we see a basket full of Napoleon's relatives, "True Corsican Kinglings" fully baked and ready "for Home Consumption and Exportation." Gillray correctly predicted that Napoleon's growing paranoia would eventually lead him more and more frequently to select the future rulers of his conquests from among his own extended family.
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".
