By the time British soldier and politician George Townshend (1724-1807) introduced to England the idea of comedic caricature 1750s [i], printmaking and lithography made publishing prints faster and expanded their audience to a wider audience than a painting in a gallery. Prints published in newspapers were inexpensive and available everyone, including all socio-economic class. Juxtaposing satire and terror in made life bearable, especially due to the development of war and depression. Thus, caricature became a widely accepted artistic approach in prints at this time. Artists such as William Hogarth (1697-1764), Isaac Cruikshank (1764-1811), and James Gillray (1756-1815) were often published by popular newspapers and their caricatures influenced public opinion on various subjects. These artists not only changed how people view the world, they also used their comedy to garner nationalist support for England during a time of war and revolution throughout Europe.
To fully understand why artists wanted to distort reality, one must recognize the political situation Europe faced during this period. There were three major events during the latter half of the 1700s which affected European politics and expansion; the first of which was the Seven Year’s War from 1756 to 1763. The war extended into America, Africa, India, and the Philippines, marking itself as one of the first wars fought by European powers for control of non-European territories. Consequentially, France lost control of territories in Canada, islands in the Caribbean, the Louisiana territory in America, and lands in India to England and other nations. Then in the 1770’s British colonies across the Atlantic revolted which led to the American Revolutionary War. France financially supported the colonies for numerous reasons, but namely as a reaction to the many restrictions England placed on trade in the colonies and resentment from the war over Canada. While the American Revolution was a minor issue for the British, the real impact was its influence on France. Political and social philosophies of liberty and equality of the newly independent America inspired the Third Estate of France, those who were not nobility nor clergymen, to revolt against its absolutist monarchy in 1789. The French Revolution lasted until 1799 then escalated once Napoleon proclaimed himself as Emperor of France by 1800. During the decade of revolution, France set itself apart from the other European powers and ultimately changed how the rest of Europe regarded the nation. With Napoleon Bonaparte as the head of the French Army with sights to conquer Europe, the British views towards France grew even more distasteful and fearful, despite early sympathy at the beginnings of the French Revolution. [ii] Caricature in the press became an important aspect in documenting and spreading news because the prints could explain events in a quick and concise manner. Prints were typically made and published in newspapers within a few days to a month after the fact and provided a perspective reflecting how artists aimed to illustrate reality. This ranged from propagandizing the military and war to establishing an imaginative and ugly representation of foreign nations.
To fully understand why artists wanted to distort reality, one must recognize the political situation Europe faced during this period. There were three major events during the latter half of the 1700s which affected European politics and expansion; the first of which was the Seven Year’s War from 1756 to 1763. The war extended into America, Africa, India, and the Philippines, marking itself as one of the first wars fought by European powers for control of non-European territories. Consequentially, France lost control of territories in Canada, islands in the Caribbean, the Louisiana territory in America, and lands in India to England and other nations. Then in the 1770’s British colonies across the Atlantic revolted which led to the American Revolutionary War. France financially supported the colonies for numerous reasons, but namely as a reaction to the many restrictions England placed on trade in the colonies and resentment from the war over Canada. While the American Revolution was a minor issue for the British, the real impact was its influence on France. Political and social philosophies of liberty and equality of the newly independent America inspired the Third Estate of France, those who were not nobility nor clergymen, to revolt against its absolutist monarchy in 1789. The French Revolution lasted until 1799 then escalated once Napoleon proclaimed himself as Emperor of France by 1800. During the decade of revolution, France set itself apart from the other European powers and ultimately changed how the rest of Europe regarded the nation. With Napoleon Bonaparte as the head of the French Army with sights to conquer Europe, the British views towards France grew even more distasteful and fearful, despite early sympathy at the beginnings of the French Revolution. [ii] Caricature in the press became an important aspect in documenting and spreading news because the prints could explain events in a quick and concise manner. Prints were typically made and published in newspapers within a few days to a month after the fact and provided a perspective reflecting how artists aimed to illustrate reality. This ranged from propagandizing the military and war to establishing an imaginative and ugly representation of foreign nations.
William Hogarth typically used his work, both painting and etchings, to address the issues of morals in daily life. [iii] While he rejected the classification, Hogarth nonetheless takes on an early form of a caricaturist by how he depicts the real world. [iv] His approach towards nationalist propaganda was subtle and reminiscent of traditional art; while there was less physical distortion in the figure, he over-exaggerated specific aspects of life such as cuisine and fashion. When he depicted the non-English, he applied common stereotypes to assert that the culture was a threat to British life. As the Seven Year’s War approached, he aimed to both slander the French culture as well as inform the people about the possible threat of invasion. The print, The Invasion: France (March 1756), served as recruiting propaganda for the British army. The accompanying caption reminds Englishmen of their strength compared to the French:
“With lanthern jaws, and croaking Gut,/ See how the half-starv’d Frenchmen Strut,/And call us English Dogs!/But soon we’ll teach these bragging Foes,/that Beef & Beer give heavier Blows,/Than Soup & Roasted Frogs./The Priests inflam’d with righteous hopes,/Prepare their Axes, Wheels & Ropes,/To bend the Stiff neck’t Sinner;/But should they sink in coming over,/Old Nick may fish twixt France & Dover/And catch a glorious Dinner!”
The statements are powerful and humorous, notably the final sentence which alludes to “Old Nick”, Satan [v], fishing for drowned Frenchmen in the English Channel, between Dover, a coastal city in Southeastern England, and France. Hogarth depicts French soldiers as malnourished and weak. The men are dangerously thin, with hollowed cheeks and nearly no musculature on their legs. They stand in front of a building with a hanging shoe, a sign with “Soup Meagre a la Sabot Royal” (Watery Soup at the Royal Shoe) written on it, and a bare rack of ribs in the window. One soldier at the lower right roasts four frogs on his sword and points to the flag above him that has written “VENGENCE et le Bon Bier et le Bon Beuf de Angletere” (Vengeance and the good beer and good beef of England). Two soldiers look like they are cheering at this flag, as if it promises to save them from starving. This representation shows that the French are much weaker and desire British life. He then goes to illustrate, as written in the caption, the French priest prodding an axe blade over a horse-drawn cart filled with wheels and ropes that look like they are meant for torture. In the cart there is also a statue with a paper stating, “Plan pour un Monastere dans Black Friars a Londre.” (Plan for a Monastery in the Black Friars at London) [vi]. Referencing Catholicism this way instills a fear in England as Catholicism had been dissolved for almost two centuries.
The numerous references to France invading is a call to arms for the British to come together for war. France and its accompanying print, The Invasion: England, were published a second time in 1759 with an announcement that these were the preparations for war in France and England, to be published in public places, “both in Town and Country.”[vii] England portrays British men as full-bodied, enthusiastic, and sexualizes soldiers to entice men to join the military. A woman measures the shoulders of a man painting a figure on a building while another woman holds a fork pointing upwards from the lap of a man lying on a table next to a beer stein. There is a soldier on the ground, playing a tune on his fife, another man with a large gut getting his height measured, and in the background soldiers march in an ordered fashion. The corresponding caption states that the hungry French soldiers are envious of the British and they would fail to attack England because “No Power can stand the deadly Stroke,/That’s given from hands & hearts of Oak…”[viii] Considering these two prints, it is obvious that Hogarth wanted to illustrate the Frenchmen as starved and unwilling to fight and the British army as entertaining and powerful. This early form of caricature combines reality with fear, represented through exaggerated stereotypes that encourage the viewer to take action.
“With lanthern jaws, and croaking Gut,/ See how the half-starv’d Frenchmen Strut,/And call us English Dogs!/But soon we’ll teach these bragging Foes,/that Beef & Beer give heavier Blows,/Than Soup & Roasted Frogs./The Priests inflam’d with righteous hopes,/Prepare their Axes, Wheels & Ropes,/To bend the Stiff neck’t Sinner;/But should they sink in coming over,/Old Nick may fish twixt France & Dover/And catch a glorious Dinner!”
The statements are powerful and humorous, notably the final sentence which alludes to “Old Nick”, Satan [v], fishing for drowned Frenchmen in the English Channel, between Dover, a coastal city in Southeastern England, and France. Hogarth depicts French soldiers as malnourished and weak. The men are dangerously thin, with hollowed cheeks and nearly no musculature on their legs. They stand in front of a building with a hanging shoe, a sign with “Soup Meagre a la Sabot Royal” (Watery Soup at the Royal Shoe) written on it, and a bare rack of ribs in the window. One soldier at the lower right roasts four frogs on his sword and points to the flag above him that has written “VENGENCE et le Bon Bier et le Bon Beuf de Angletere” (Vengeance and the good beer and good beef of England). Two soldiers look like they are cheering at this flag, as if it promises to save them from starving. This representation shows that the French are much weaker and desire British life. He then goes to illustrate, as written in the caption, the French priest prodding an axe blade over a horse-drawn cart filled with wheels and ropes that look like they are meant for torture. In the cart there is also a statue with a paper stating, “Plan pour un Monastere dans Black Friars a Londre.” (Plan for a Monastery in the Black Friars at London) [vi]. Referencing Catholicism this way instills a fear in England as Catholicism had been dissolved for almost two centuries.
The numerous references to France invading is a call to arms for the British to come together for war. France and its accompanying print, The Invasion: England, were published a second time in 1759 with an announcement that these were the preparations for war in France and England, to be published in public places, “both in Town and Country.”[vii] England portrays British men as full-bodied, enthusiastic, and sexualizes soldiers to entice men to join the military. A woman measures the shoulders of a man painting a figure on a building while another woman holds a fork pointing upwards from the lap of a man lying on a table next to a beer stein. There is a soldier on the ground, playing a tune on his fife, another man with a large gut getting his height measured, and in the background soldiers march in an ordered fashion. The corresponding caption states that the hungry French soldiers are envious of the British and they would fail to attack England because “No Power can stand the deadly Stroke,/That’s given from hands & hearts of Oak…”[viii] Considering these two prints, it is obvious that Hogarth wanted to illustrate the Frenchmen as starved and unwilling to fight and the British army as entertaining and powerful. This early form of caricature combines reality with fear, represented through exaggerated stereotypes that encourage the viewer to take action.
Decades later, Scottish artist Isaac Cruikshank took a similar approach to caricaturizing events during the French Revolution. In 1793 he etched The Wet Party, a colorful print that describes the Duke of York and Albany’s actions in Dunkirk and Flanders. This event was an unsuccessful year-long incident in which the Duke, Prince Frederick Augustus (1763-1827), attempted to reclaim Holland from French invasion during the French Revolution. Despite early success, the Duke ultimately failed to gain control in Holland which caused “malicious rumors of the duke’s alleged debauchery” by his officers on leave. [ix] Cruikshank, one of numerous artists to illustrate this famous event, is much more cynical about the British military than Hogarth, who died in 1764 just after British victories from Seven Year’s War. The Wet Party or The Bogs of Flanders, a new Song depicts the Duke of York and Albany in a lake, a reference to the swampiness of Flanders. He talks down to his officers, who look depressed and disappointed, straddling an overtly phallic cannon. The scene shows the conflicting emotions of the soldiers. The sad officers on the right, possibly a reference to those who spread the mentioned rumors, contrast the joyful cymbal and triangle players almost covered with water, a Scotsman sitting on a drowned tent singing another verse of the song below [x], and a man fishing from atop a sign which states, “Best Roads to Dunkirk.” The song along the bottom expresses hopelessness while encouraging men to keep fighting:
“Why Soldiers why/Should we be Melancholy, boy;/why Soldiers, why?/ Whose business t’is to die/what sighing fie!/Damn fear, drink on, be jolly, boys!/’Tis he, you, or I—/cold hot wet or dry;/We’re allways [sic] bound to follow, boys,/annd [sic] scorn to fly!”
The soldiers and the song, along with the drum and guns strewn on a tree all suggests that the Duke abandoned his responsibility to Britain and the military. This decadence reflects the improper lifestyle Hogarth referenced in his moralizing series. Cruikshank and most of England would have been familiar with those prints and seems to use similar artistic elements to show that the Duke does not represent true British ideals. While it is not typically proper to critique a royal in such a way, this kind of scene recognized its own ridiculousness and resonated throughout England as a comical episode in history. [xi] While critiquing the Duke’s military incompetence, Cruikshank also encouraged soldiers to keep fighting despite the poor leadership, again propagandizing the military. He juxtaposed the bleakness of war with a more cheerful sentiment: to “Damn fear, drink on, be jolly, boys!”
“Why Soldiers why/Should we be Melancholy, boy;/why Soldiers, why?/ Whose business t’is to die/what sighing fie!/Damn fear, drink on, be jolly, boys!/’Tis he, you, or I—/cold hot wet or dry;/We’re allways [sic] bound to follow, boys,/annd [sic] scorn to fly!”
The soldiers and the song, along with the drum and guns strewn on a tree all suggests that the Duke abandoned his responsibility to Britain and the military. This decadence reflects the improper lifestyle Hogarth referenced in his moralizing series. Cruikshank and most of England would have been familiar with those prints and seems to use similar artistic elements to show that the Duke does not represent true British ideals. While it is not typically proper to critique a royal in such a way, this kind of scene recognized its own ridiculousness and resonated throughout England as a comical episode in history. [xi] While critiquing the Duke’s military incompetence, Cruikshank also encouraged soldiers to keep fighting despite the poor leadership, again propagandizing the military. He juxtaposed the bleakness of war with a more cheerful sentiment: to “Damn fear, drink on, be jolly, boys!”
Compared to Hogarth and Cruikshank, James Gillray utilized caricature in its most extreme form; his political prints display dramatic distortions of reality to the point of total imagination. His style pushes the boundaries of artistic license while still suggesting real events. While his original response to the French Revolution in 1789 was sympathetic [xii], he later criticized all participants in war, whether they were the perpetrator or victim. His print The High German Method of Destroying Vermin at Rastadt (1799) shows how one could use humor to convey death and violence for a public audience while still addressing the ridiculousness of the French Revolution. The scene references the conclusion of the Congress of Rastatt in 1799, a group originally formed in 1797 to compensate German princes who had lost land to Revolutionary France. Three French ambassadors, Jean Debry, Ange-Élisabeth-Louis-Antoine Bonnier, and Claude Roberjot, remained in Rastatt which caused Austrians to grow suspicious. Thus, the Frenchmen were ordered to leave the city and on 28 April as they were leaving, Austrian hussars, cavalrymen, attacked their carriage. Bonnier and Roberjot were murdered and Debry was left for dead. [xiii] Gillray, who etched and published this print within a month of the event, depicts both Austrians and Frenchmen as cartoonish figures. The text on the bottom left states,
“Now you shall see! how the cruel Austrians turn’d the Heads of/ two French Gentlemen, whose brains were deraigned.”
The two Austrian hussars decapitated two of the French ambassadors and are shown playing with their heads while the third ambassador in the background, Jean Debry, flees the scene, chased by a mob, covered in large bloody slices. Gillray made the event bearable by juxtaposing humor and death. Although based in truth, this scene is completely imaginary. Of course, it is impossible for a beheaded body, with a fountain of blood streaming from its neck, could try to wave its arms around to look for its head. The other decapitated body is upside-down, with its back facing the viewer, and head set between its feet in the air. The hussar holding the latter seems to be critiquing his grotesque creation while the other has a head spiked on his sword and teasing the body. Each figure is misshapen in some way, notably Debry who seems to have lost his nose and one hussar who has only five teeth. Filled with absurdities, Destroying Vermin deflects from reality with satirical caricature to make news comprehendible and entertaining. Viewers would find more humor in this slap-stick print more so than with Hogarth’s or Cruikshank’s prints because the latter two are about British life and real problems that could affect the norm. By addressing a French assassination by Austrians, there is no direct connection to any potential problem in England.
“Now you shall see! how the cruel Austrians turn’d the Heads of/ two French Gentlemen, whose brains were deraigned.”
The two Austrian hussars decapitated two of the French ambassadors and are shown playing with their heads while the third ambassador in the background, Jean Debry, flees the scene, chased by a mob, covered in large bloody slices. Gillray made the event bearable by juxtaposing humor and death. Although based in truth, this scene is completely imaginary. Of course, it is impossible for a beheaded body, with a fountain of blood streaming from its neck, could try to wave its arms around to look for its head. The other decapitated body is upside-down, with its back facing the viewer, and head set between its feet in the air. The hussar holding the latter seems to be critiquing his grotesque creation while the other has a head spiked on his sword and teasing the body. Each figure is misshapen in some way, notably Debry who seems to have lost his nose and one hussar who has only five teeth. Filled with absurdities, Destroying Vermin deflects from reality with satirical caricature to make news comprehendible and entertaining. Viewers would find more humor in this slap-stick print more so than with Hogarth’s or Cruikshank’s prints because the latter two are about British life and real problems that could affect the norm. By addressing a French assassination by Austrians, there is no direct connection to any potential problem in England.
The use of caricature by the end of the eighteenth century prompts political and social discussion among the public, inclusive of all socio-economic classes. Because the prints were in were so widely distributed through newspapers, they therefore influenced numerous people throughout British society. Artists’ caricatures distorted natural perceptions of reality to illustrate their own as well as the public’s concerns and ideals. By the end of the eighteenth century, English artists’ etchings created a national consensus about France, political leaders, and war. The satirical representation of life became a popularized defense mechanism used to redirect concerns of war and terror. While news, like French invasion in Britain or Austrians assassinating Frenchmen, could frighten a viewer, Hogarth, Cruikshank, and Gillray suggested that these possibilities were too ridiculous to be reality.
Endnotes:
i Ronald Paulson, Representations of Revolution (Yale University Press, 1983), 182.
ii Ibid,” The View from England: Stereotypes”, 37-56. This specific chapter is important to understanding the variations in how British figures considered the revolution in France. Paulson quotes numerous British sympathizers of the “first phase” of the revolution- namely the Storming of Bastille. Soon after, there is evidence of concern for the revolution extending throughout Europe in correspondence between British philosophers.
iii Hogarth’s most popular series are A Harlot’s Progress (painted 1731, engraved 1732), The Rake’s Progress (painted 1732-1734, engraved 1734, published 1735), and Marriage a-la-Mode (1743-1745). The three series each depict how Hogarth believed sin, namely greed and lust, eventually destroyed a person.
iv Paulson, 182. In J. B. Nichols Anecdotes of William Hogarth (1833), Hogarth is quoted to have called caricature “the lowest part of the art of painting and sculpture”.
v Cambridge Dictionary Online. “Old Nick” is an old-fashioned and humorous way of naming the devil or Satan.
vi Blackfriars is an area in the Southwest corner of London. It was the location of a notable monastery until it was dissolved by Henry VIII in the sixteenth century.
vii Catalogue of Political and Social Satires Preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum. 11 vols. (London: British Museum, 1870-1954), 1048
viii “See John the Soldier, Jack the Tar,/With Sword & Pistol arm’d for War,/Should Mounsir dare come here!/The Hungry Slaes have smelt our Food,/They long to taste our Flesh and Blood,/Old England’s Beef and Beer!/Britons to Arms! And let ‘em come;/Be you but Britons still, Strike Home,/And Lion-like attack ‘em./No Power can stand the deadly Stroke,/That’s given from hands & hearts of Oak,/With Liberty to back ‘em.”
ix Clifton, “The Wet Party”, Leslie M. Scattone, 85. See also Holland J. Rose, William Pitt and the Great War (Westport, Conn: Greenwood, 1971).
x The soldier sings “And while we can get crowdy/boys/we’ll scorn to fly!”
xi The Duke’s failures inspired a popular tune, “The Grand Old Duke of York”.
xii Paulson, 184. His sympathy is shown in his cartoons Freedom and Slavery (27 July 1789) and The Offering of Liberty (August 1789).
xiii For information on the Congress of Rastatt, see P. Montarlot and L. Pingaud, Le Congrès de Rastatt (11 juin 1798-28 avril 1799); Correspondance et Documents. 3 vols. (Paris: Alphonse Picard et Fils, 1912-13) ; Albert Sorel, L’Europe et la Révolution Française. 8 vols. (Paris : Plon-Nourrit, 1885-1904), 5:392; Adolphis William War, George Walter Prothero, and Stanely Leathes, eds. The Camberidge Modern History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1907-12), 8:655-656.
i Ronald Paulson, Representations of Revolution (Yale University Press, 1983), 182.
ii Ibid,” The View from England: Stereotypes”, 37-56. This specific chapter is important to understanding the variations in how British figures considered the revolution in France. Paulson quotes numerous British sympathizers of the “first phase” of the revolution- namely the Storming of Bastille. Soon after, there is evidence of concern for the revolution extending throughout Europe in correspondence between British philosophers.
iii Hogarth’s most popular series are A Harlot’s Progress (painted 1731, engraved 1732), The Rake’s Progress (painted 1732-1734, engraved 1734, published 1735), and Marriage a-la-Mode (1743-1745). The three series each depict how Hogarth believed sin, namely greed and lust, eventually destroyed a person.
iv Paulson, 182. In J. B. Nichols Anecdotes of William Hogarth (1833), Hogarth is quoted to have called caricature “the lowest part of the art of painting and sculpture”.
v Cambridge Dictionary Online. “Old Nick” is an old-fashioned and humorous way of naming the devil or Satan.
vi Blackfriars is an area in the Southwest corner of London. It was the location of a notable monastery until it was dissolved by Henry VIII in the sixteenth century.
vii Catalogue of Political and Social Satires Preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum. 11 vols. (London: British Museum, 1870-1954), 1048
viii “See John the Soldier, Jack the Tar,/With Sword & Pistol arm’d for War,/Should Mounsir dare come here!/The Hungry Slaes have smelt our Food,/They long to taste our Flesh and Blood,/Old England’s Beef and Beer!/Britons to Arms! And let ‘em come;/Be you but Britons still, Strike Home,/And Lion-like attack ‘em./No Power can stand the deadly Stroke,/That’s given from hands & hearts of Oak,/With Liberty to back ‘em.”
ix Clifton, “The Wet Party”, Leslie M. Scattone, 85. See also Holland J. Rose, William Pitt and the Great War (Westport, Conn: Greenwood, 1971).
x The soldier sings “And while we can get crowdy/boys/we’ll scorn to fly!”
xi The Duke’s failures inspired a popular tune, “The Grand Old Duke of York”.
xii Paulson, 184. His sympathy is shown in his cartoons Freedom and Slavery (27 July 1789) and The Offering of Liberty (August 1789).
xiii For information on the Congress of Rastatt, see P. Montarlot and L. Pingaud, Le Congrès de Rastatt (11 juin 1798-28 avril 1799); Correspondance et Documents. 3 vols. (Paris: Alphonse Picard et Fils, 1912-13) ; Albert Sorel, L’Europe et la Révolution Française. 8 vols. (Paris : Plon-Nourrit, 1885-1904), 5:392; Adolphis William War, George Walter Prothero, and Stanely Leathes, eds. The Camberidge Modern History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1907-12), 8:655-656.