print;
satirical print
- Museum number
- 1861,1012.393
- Title
- Object: Le nouveau Diogène.
- Description
-
Wellington, much caricatured, walks in profile to the left, holding out a lantern in his search for an honest man. He wears field-marshal's uniform with plumed cocked hat, ribbon and star, sword and high spurred boots. He registers dismay; below the design are his words: "Goddam! Je n'en trouverai donc pas un!" In the background, surrounded by conventional sea, is a piece of land on which the most conspicuous object is a throne with a crown in the otherwise empty seat. Behind it a tiny soldier holds a pennant. By the throne are shattered columns and blocks of masonry. Behind, little pinnacled canopies are grouped with a block of stone resting on two columns, suggesting an Italian and probably Roman scene. Two small oddly drawn ships are on the water. The land behind Wellington ascends into rocky pyramids which are perhaps symbols for a range of mountains.
1816-19
Hand-coloured lithograph
- Production date
- 1829-1833
- Dimensions
-
Height: 303 millimetres
-
Width: 190 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M. Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', IX, 1949)
One of French prints (Nos. 12708-12713) dated 1816 by Broadley.
The date being uncertain the precise application is doubtful. It illustrates the unsettled state of France and the importance of Wellington on the Continent, when commander-in-chief of the Army of Occupation. It may relate to the crisis, when at Wellington's instigation the' Chambre introuvable' was dissolved, see No. 12797. The background may indicate the ultramontanism of French reactionaries.
(Supplementary information)
Dated 1816 (wrongly) in pencil in a French hand. This print is not listed in the 'Bibliographie de France'.
The printer Fonrouge is only recorded between 1829-33, and so this print must refer to the political crisis around 1830.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1861
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1861,1012.393