Bonaparte and the British: prints and propaganda in the age of Napoleon
Excellent exhibition at the British Museum looking at how prints were used to promote the
various views of Napoleon in England. Although the view was mainly negative,
and this was the great age of caricature with Rowlandson, Cruikshank and
Gillray, many people in Britain also admired Napoleon, particularly in his
early career.
Favourite image? Gillray’s “The Hand Writing Upon the Wall”, roughly based on the Rembrandt picture, which shows a great feast overseen by Napoleon and Josephine with the table covered in dishes shaped like British buildings. The picture was actually described by Cobbett!
Telegraph
I had needed a
good history on Napoleon in this the 250th anniversary year of the Battle of
Waterloo and this show provided it. It went through his life story telling it
through the prints and cartoons of the time. It was a great visual treat but
also have a clear narrative and a well told story.
The show was full
of ‘fancy that’ moments. I loved the idea of a re-enactment of the Battle of
the Nile at Sadler’s Well with real water, represented by a post for the event.
Where can I get tickets?! Did you know there was an assassination attempt on
Napoleon on his way to the premier of Haydn’s Creation in Paris?
I loved the
sections which looked at the periods of peace with France when within month’s
British tourists started returning to Paris, we just can’t keep away. One French
print shows a thin British man arriving in Paris and his leaving pushing his
stomach in a wheelbarrow!
Favourite image? Gillray’s “The Hand Writing Upon the Wall”, roughly based on the Rembrandt picture, which shows a great feast overseen by Napoleon and Josephine with the table covered in dishes shaped like British buildings. The picture was actually described by Cobbett!
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