print; satirical print

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Object Type: print; satirical print
Museum number: 1851,0901.1018
Title: Object: Tha apples and the horse-turds; -or-Buonaparte among the golden pippins
Description: A winding river flows (left to right) towards a hill in the background surmounted by a temple of Fame. In the foreground (left) is a 'Dunghill of Republican Horse Turds'; in the stream float turds from the dunghill, while farther up are golden apples, crowned and inscribed. The foremost is 'English-Pippin', close behind are 'Imperial-Pippin' and 'Russian-Pippin'; they are followed by a (turbaned) 'Turkish-Pippin' and a small 'Neapolitan' [Pippin]. From a mass of floating dung emerges the profile head of Bonaparte, wearing a feathered cocked hat inscribed 'First Horse Turd'; this is the central and dominating object in the river; from his mouth issues a large label: 'A ha! par ma foi - how We Apples Swim!' Lumps of dung close behind him are inscribed 'Second Horse Turd' [Cambacérès], 'Third Horse Turd' [Lebrun], and 'Seyes' [sic]. They are followed by 'Massena', 'Jourdan', 'Talleyrand'. Bonaparte swims between 'Spanish-Pippin' and 'Prussian-Pippin', both in proximity to dung. Behind him float 'Papal P[ippin]', a triple crown, and 'Sardinian [Pippin]', both half submerged. Under water are submerged (or dead) turds: 'Robespierre', 'Marat', 'Condorcet', 'Roland'. A spreading column of thick smoke arises from the dunghill, which is composed of inscribed fragments, from which in the left foreground tiny heads emerge, the dominant one being Fox, who says: "Caira! Caira! - chacun à son tour! We shall all Swim in our turns"; next him is 'Envy'. Tierney, the second head, says: "Yes! Yes! - none of Us was born to be Drowned". The others are Sheridan, Nicholls, Erskine, and (slightly smaller) Burdett, Derby, Taylor. Those indicated by names only are: 'Voltaire', 'Rosseau' [sic], 'd'Alembert', 'Godwin', 'Price', 'Priestley', 'Holcroft', '(?) Darwin', close to (scarcely legible) 'Mo[rning] Po[st]', 'Morn. Chronicle', 'Courier [see BMSat 9194]. Larger turds are: 'Atheism', 'Falshood', 'Regicide', 'Egalité', 'Disappointment', 'Beggary', 'Poverty', 'Plunder', 'Paines Rights of Man' [see BMSat 7867, &c], 'Republican Faith', 'Theophilanthropy' [see BMSat 9240], 'Deceit [twice]', 'Lies', 'Licentiousness', 'Hypocrisy'. Beneath the title: 'Explanation. - Some Horse-Turds being washed by the Current from a neighbouring Dunghill, espied a number of fair Apples swimming up the Stream, when, wishing to be thought of consequence, the Horse Turds would every Moment be bawling out, - "Lack a day, how We Apples swim! - See Buonaparte's Letter to his Majesty: and Mr W--b--ds remarks upon the Correspondence "between Crowned Heads" - viz. Kings & Horse Turds.' 24 February 1800 Hand-coloured etching
Producer name: Print made by: James Gillray; Published by: Hannah Humphrey
School/style
Production date: 1800
Production place: Published in: London (England)
Materials
Technique: etching; hand-coloured
Dimensions: Height: 260 millimetres; Width: 361 millimetres
$Inscriptions
Curator's comments: (Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VII, 1942) A comprehensive satire on the European situation, the foremost apples being the powers of the Second Coalition, and on revolutionary doctrines (and Opposition) in the spirit of BMSat 9240, but with special application to Bonaparte's position as First Consul and his letter to George III proposing peace, see BMSat 9512. This personal approach, apart from the question of Bonaparte's status, was contrary to diplomatic practice. In the debate on the peace overtures Whitbread denounced attacks on the character of the First Consul: 'This person thinks proper to make overtures to his majesty; and this he does in a manner agreeable to the rights of civilized nations, and in no way incompatible with that respect which is due from one crowned head to another. . . . His power, however attained, if once consolidated, must be respected, as well as the most legitimate.' 'Parl. Hist.' xxxiv. 1255 (3 Feb.). Cf. BMSat 9433, &c. Grego, 'Gillray', pp. 267-8. Wright and Evans, No. 296. Broadley, i. 133-4. Reprinted, 'G.W.G.', 1830. Reproduced, Grand-Carteret, 'Napoléon en images', 1895, p. 60.
Bibliographic references
Location: Not on display
Exhibition history: 2001 Jun-Sep, London, Tate Britain, 'Gillray and the Art of Caricature'
Subjects
Associated names: Associated with: Jean le Rond d'Alembert; Associated with: Napoléon I, Emperor of the French (Napoleon); Associated with: Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet; Associated with: Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès; Associated with: Charles IV, King of Spain; Associated with: Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis de Condorcet; Associated with: Erasmus Darwin; Associated with: Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby; Associated with: Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Erskine; Associated with: Charles James Fox; Associated with: Frederick William II, King of Prussia; Associated with: George III, King of the United Kingdom; Associated with: William Godwin; Associated with: Thomas Holcroft; Associated with: Jean Baptiste Jourdan; Associated with: Charles François Lebrun, duc de Plaisance; Associated with: Jean Paul Marat; Associated with: André Masséna; Associated with: John Nicholls; Associated with: Thomas Paine; Associated with: Pope Pius VI; Associated with: Richard Price; Associated with: Dr Joseph Priestley; Associated with: Maximilien Robespierre; Associated with: Jean Marie Roland, vicomte de la Platière; Associated with: Jean Jacques Rousseau; Associated with: Richard Brinsley Sheridan; Associated with: Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès; Associated with: Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, Prince de Benevento; Associated with: Right Hon Michael Angelo Taylor; Associated with: George Tierney; Associated with: Vittorio Amedeo III, King of Sardinia; Associated with: Voltaire; Associated with: Samuel Whitbread II
Acquisition name
Acquisition date: 1851
Department: Prints and Drawings
Registration number: 1851,0901.1018

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