In this highly colored caricature, Joseph Bonaparte wanders in the dangerous middle ground between Vesuvius' eruption and the eruption of Spanish resistance fighters. Without a crown, yet still wearing fashionable Spanish clothing decorated with slashes and a wide ruff, Joseph wildly looks about him and considers his options. Alone and cornered, there is no safe haven in any direction. Vesuvius explodes, belching fire, smoke, and molten rocks which fall dangerously close to his feet. Equal danger awaits him on the other side of the valley. A squadron of Spanish musketeers take aim and fire from their vantage point atop a bluff. In the distance, the distinctive skylines of Naples, (l.), and Madrid, (r.), are separated from the conflict by a large body of water. This sheet is brightly colored with strong outlines. However, small dark spots and stains pepper the sheet universally. Additionally, the sheet has been torn along the center left edge, and has been mended by a piece of adhesive tape applied to the verso. The upper left corner has been torn off and replaced by a small triangle of paper glued to the verso.
Notes:
Published by Thomas Tegg. Not listed in the British Museum catalog. 1808-09-25
Caption: Pubd Septr 25 1808 by Thos Tegg No 111 Cheapside
Dialogue: Joseph: "Which way shall I turn me how can I decide /Tis this way or that way /Or which way you will /Poor wandering Joey is sure of a hill."
Printed Signature: Thomas Rowlandson fc.
Annotation: 6-
Collector's Mark: [a triangle with a horizontal score mark through the center]
Woodward, George Moutard,
"Brother Joe between two firis"
(1808).
Prints, Drawings and Watercolors from the Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection, Napoleonic Satires from the Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:232395/
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