A collection of 17 rare French caricatures on various subjects from fashion, food and race to health and beauty and prostitution. Many of the caricatures satirise English life.

HOW THE FRENCH VIEW THE ENGLISH

A large collection of rare French caricatures on various subjects from fashion, food and race to health and beauty and prostitution. Although produced in Paris following the Revolution, and largely during the period of the Restoration of the Bourbon Monarchy, there is a distinct preoccupation with England and the English: John Bull type characters wear absurd parodies of English fashion and walk arm-in-arm with broad-chested women in garish gowns while groups of men drink (for drinking sake) and fall to the floor or urinate in public. A pair of English novice fencers are shown in stark contrast to their poised French counterparts. Even scenes that are most likely set in Paris feels as though they are being portrayed for an English audience and depict the exotic or sexual scenes on offer to visitors. As well as being striking images, these prints allow us to examine the uneasy relationship between England and France at the beginning of the 19th-century and the first flourishing of an entente cordiale as each country became able to gently poke fun at the absurdities of their national stereotypes.

[THEATRE]. Les coulisses de l'Opéra. Paris: [Paul André] Basset, [c.1815]. A little creased and grubby at the edges of the sheet but otherwise a very fine impression with bright colour.   A supposed peak behind the scenes at the Paris Opera where a bare-chested young woman dances with the ballet dancer Marie Auguste Vestris (who has a distinguishing prominent large nose) while another dancer high-kicks her toe up the nose of a red-faced (English) gentleman. An actor in a frightening wolf costume appears from a trapdoor in the stage floor and a man peers inappropriately at a young woman through his monocle.   The copy in the British Museum has a manuscript key identifying some of the actors in the scene. There is also a copy in the New York Public Library.

 

[HEALTH]. La Fontaine de Jouvence. Paris: Alexandre Tessier, [c.1820]. Closely cropped to the plate mark but otherwise fine with bright colour.   Two opposing groups of women meet at the supposed “fountain of youth”: on the left a group of three young woman with the label beneath “Aujourd hui” [Today] and on the right a grotesque group of older woman of various sizes labelled “Jadis” [Formerly]. In the water behind them a naked young woman is pursued by two older men.   No copy in the BM. OCLC records BnF only.

 

[FOOD AND DRINK]. L'épicurien. L’embarras des Richesses!!!  Paris: [Aaron] Martinet, [c.1807]. A very fine impression with strikingly bright colour.   A stout man in a resplendent red jacket and breeches with  a floral waistcoat stands between a table of food and a woman (with breasts exposed and legs apart) reclining asleep on a chaise longue. The man is thinking: “par où commencerai je?” [Where will I start?]. A picture on the wall behind the man shows the paradox of Buridan’s ass.   No copy in the BM. The only institutional copy appears to be at the Musée Carnavalet Histoire de Paris.

 

[FASHION]. La toilette. Paris: [Aaron] Martinet [c. 1801]. Small closed tear to the edge of the sheet but the image is fine with bright colour.   A gentleman stood before his portmanteau is being helped to dress by a black servant.  On a table are several large bags of money. From a series titled Caricatures Parisiennes.   There is a copy in the BM and at the Musée Carnavalet Histoire de Paris.

 

[RACE]. Les Coryplées de Longchamp. Paris: Mme Ve Chereau [c. 1814]. Closely cropped to the plate mark and a little dusty but otherwise fine.   A gentleman walks with a woman on his arm (who appears to be Indian or from the subcontinent), she is wearing a turban and a striking white dress, the fashionable passers-by stop and stare at the couple. We have been unable to trace another copy.  

 

[RACE]. Les fameux jongleurs et escamoteurs indiens à Paris. Paris: Mme Ve Chereau   [c. 1814] Two small repaired holes in the bottom corners of the sheet but otherwise fine.   Three Indian men (supposed to be jugglers or conjurers) dressed in white outfits are being stared at by a French family in shock. The V&A have another print showing the men performing various tricks. The men were brought to England from Calcutta in 1813 and performed for the Prince Regent and publicly on Pall Mall. We have been unable to trace another copy. 

 

[LITERATURE]. Le cabinet littéraire en plein vent. Paris: [Paul André] Basset, [c.1814]. A fine impression with good colour.   A group of people reading newspapers and books are crammed together between two folding screens, one has a Chinese design on it and the other shows a man scattering corn for turkeys. The cabinet de lecture or cabinet littéraire were early subscription libraries in France which were important at the time of the Restoration as they were not controlled by the same licensing laws as the booksellers.   Not in the BM. There is a copy in the BnF.

 

[FASHION]. Les Invisibles en tête-à-tête. Paris: [Aaron] Martinet, [c.1805].  A very nice wide-margined copy  with bright colour.   Fashionably dressed women with over-sized bonnets engage in conversation with their male admirers who conceal their heads within the women’s hats. One gentleman has a phallic handle to his umbrella. Part of a series, Le Supréme Bon Ton (no. 16)   The BM has an English copy of this print S W Fores titled “The Invisible Tete-A-Tete or Parisian Dandies” (c.1818-9)   The original Parisian impression is not in the BM. There is a copy in the National Gallery of Art, Washington.

 

[PROSTITUTION]. La Moderne Danaé ou La Maitresse à la mode. Paris: [Aaron] Martinet, [c.1806] A very good copy with wide margins and bright colour.   A woman reclines on a day-bed whole a arge man pours gold coins into her lap. A second, disgruntled, man impatiently  inspects his watch. The print plays on the Ovidian myth of Danaë (famously painted by Titian). Part of the series, Caricatures Parisiennes   We have been unable to trace a copy of this print in an institutional collection.  

 

[DRINKING]. Comment le trouvez vous? Paris: Godissart de Cari for [Aaron]Martinet, [c.1818]. A nice copy with good margins and handsome colour.   Two inebriated men stand in a wine cellar sampling red wine from the large barrels behind them, one man asks the other: “Comment le trouvez vous? [How do you find it?].” The artists name “G de Cari” is written in graffiti on the wall of the cellar. From a series entitled Musée Grotesque (no.26).   There is a copy in the BM and in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

 

[DRINKING]. L’Après-Dinée Des Anglais Scènes Anglaises dessinees à Londres par un français prisonnier de Guerre. Paris: [Aaron] Martinet [c.1814]. A small spot on the plate and closely cropped to the plate mark.   A supposed scene after dinner in England in which the men present are all in various states of inebriation: one has fallen to the floor, two clutch each other and another urinates in the corner of the room. The landscape painting hanging on the wall shows driving (English) rain.  Supposedly drawn by a French prisoner of war. The plate is numbered 2.   The scene is a popular motif in prints of this period poking fun at the English ability (or inability) to drink and the English custom of remaining at the dinner table (after the ladies had left) and continuing drinking. See Les Anglais en Bourgogne (c.1814) which shows a similar group of men sampling the produce of Burgundy – the print was reproduced on both sides of the Channel.   There is a copy in the BM, the Fitzwilliam Museum and the BnF.

 

[FENCING]. L’anglais et son maître d’escrime. Paris: [Genty, the name has been inked out in the imprint but has been written by hand on the blank verso of the sheet, c. 1814]. The sheet is browned with some minor ink blotting to one small section, trimmed a little close to the platemark.   A pair of contrasting Englishmen are being taught fencing by a dishevelled master. One man is large with a long nose while the other is long and thin with his coat tails trailing on the floor. In the background a pair of distinguished French men are fencing in smart uniforms and dignified positions.   There is a copy in the BM, Trinity College Dublin and Musée Carnavalet Histoire de Paris.

 

[FOOD]. Mme. Gargantua à Son Grand Couvert. Paris: [Paul André] Basset, [c.1809]. Closely cropped to the plate mark but otherwise a good impression with bright colour.   An enormous woman sits at a huge table surrounded by plates of food and large wine bottles which are being delivered to her by an army of smaller waiting staff who use ladders, barrows and a donkey to transport the dishes. One of the waiters is filling a wine bottle from a barrel that towers over him. A satire on aristocratic greed at the expense of the lower orders. An accompanying plate (by Basset) showing the male Gargantua also exists.   There is a copy in the BM (rather tatty and folded and in fact not published by Basset but by the obscure Frères brothers) and BnF.

 

[FASHION]. Les Milords Pouffes à Paris, ou la famille Anglaise du Suprême Bon Ton de Londres. Paris: [Aaron] Martinet, [c.1814]. A little foxed at the edges and closely cropped at the upper margin (but still outside the plate mark), good bright colour.   Two pairs of English couples (with exaggerated features and dress) meet in a park. The satire is clearly based on French perceptions of English fashion as the men wear similar hats and coats with long tails. The woman is dressed in pinks and yellows and carries a vivid purple parasol. There is a copy in the BM.  

 

[HUNTING]. Les inconvéniens de la Chasse. Paris: Noel Frères [c.1815]  Slightly grubby at the edges of the sheet but otherwise fine   An English hunting scene in which a young woman has been unseated from her horse due to her long hair and gown tangling in a tree, a rider following behind her passes underneath her in a suggestive sexual manner. A huntsman with a large hunting horn rides beside them.   According to the BM catalogue the Frères brothers were “obscure French publishers of middle-market prints and caricatures.”   Seemingly unrecorded.

 

[WOMEN]. Le jugement de Paris. Paris: Noel Frères [c.1815]. Lightly browned in places but otherwise fine.   The scene is inspired by the classical Judgement of Paris in which Paris of Troy is asked to judge which of three guests, Hera, Athena and Aphrodite are the fairest. In this version the three women are grotesque and depicted in various states of undress. The man may be supposed to represent an English traveller.   Seemingly unrecorded.

 

[FOOD]. Garganthua aux variétés. Paris: Mme Ve Chereau [c.1815?]. The paper is a little browned and trimmed to the plate mark but otherwise fine.   A very unusual scene in which a large representation of Rabelais is seated at a long table set with empty plates. The figure of Rabelais has doors in its chest and reveals a series of dishes inside. In front of the table are two groups of figures who are all named in the key below.   Seemingly unrecorded.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stock Code: 253114