Tiddy Doll, the great French-Gingerbread-Baker;

drawing out a new Batch of Kings, - his man, Hopping Talley, 

mixing up the dough

A hand colored copper plate engraving, by James Gillray, First issued Hannah Hunphrey in 1808. This image was  published by Henry G. Bohn in 1847-1851 as part of The Works of James Gillray from the Original Plates with the Addition of Many Subjects Not Before Collected.

'With the arrival of Napoleon the English satirists had the opportunity to ridicule a man instead of a generalized stereotype. In this caricature Napoleon and Talleyrand bake ginger-bread kings for the emperor's imperialistic grand plan.

It shows in a basket the Corsican kinglings: Joseph, to become King of Naples in March1806, Louis, to become King of Holland in June 1806, and Jerome, to become King of Westphalia in July 1807. No doubt Napoleon's sisters and their husbands are also in the basket. The three kings being taken out of the oven reflect the provisions of the Treaty of Pressburg (26 November 1805) where Austria renounced rights over Bavaria, Wurttemberg and Baden.

Gillray was not so accurate with his model of the little dough viceroys. Although untitled they represent the Whig politicians Sheridan, Fox, Moira and Derby, and are a vicious sideswipe at their policy of Appeasement. Gillray defends the English audience against the threat of Napoleon by making him look decidedly nonthreatening. Standing in an apron and dwarfed by his enormous hat, Napoleon is made into a laughable figure while the caricature of Talleyrand in the background cruelly depicts his surgical shoe, wrongly placed on his left foot.

Copyrighted 2007 by The Scrapbook 34 Main St. Essex, Massachusetts 01929  Tel: 978-768-7404

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