Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Austrian bugaboo funking the French army

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James Gillray
1756-1815

Austrian bugaboo funking the French army

[London] : Pubd. May 12th 1792 by H. Humphrey, No. 18 Old Bond Street, [1792]
etching, hand colored
image: 244 x 348 mm; plate: 244 x 348 mm; sheet: 250 x 357 mm
Peel 2781
Notes
Printmaker from George.
At upper left, within image: '"While loyal honour warm'd a Fr'enchmans breast, " The field of Battle was a glorious test; "Nobly ambitious for his King to fight, "To die or conquer was a Soldiers Right. "A strange reverse the Democrats display, "And prove the "Right of Man" - to run away -.
A satire on the French flight from Tournai in 1792.
Provenance

Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.

Summary

Print shows a monster, representing Austria, putting to flight a disorderly rabble of French soldiers. He has enormous legs which are joined to his shoulders, probably to indicate that he is 'nobody'; his head consists of a large military cap, decorated with the Habsburg eagle, from which issue enormous moustaches and two puffs of smoke; he smokes a large curved metal pipe, and from his supposed mouth issues a blast of smoke directed against the fleeing French.

Associated names
Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher.
Peel, Robert, 1788-1850, former owner.
Classification
Department