Death and Bonaparte, The Two Kings of Terror
Medium
Hand-colored etching; second issue
Dimensions
Sheet: 17 1/16 × 9 3/16 in. (43.3 × 23.4 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1959
Accession Number
59.533.1551
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the turbulent final days of the Napoleonic Wars, British satirist Thomas Rowlandson crafted *Death and Bonaparte, The Two of Terror* (1814), a hand-colored published by Rudolph Ackermann in London. This second-issue print captures the era's intense anti-Napoleonic, portraying Napoleon alongside the Grim Reaper as twin harbingers of destruction—amidst soldiers, cannons, and. Rowlandson, a master of caricature in the Georgian tradition, used exaggerated forms and dark humor to mock the French emperor's military ambitions, reflecting Britain's propaganda efforts as Napoleon's empire crumbled a...
About the Artist
Thomas Rowlandson|Napoléon Bonaparte|Rudolph Ackermann, London · 1756–1827
Thomas Rowlandson (1757–1827) was an English artist and caricaturist whose satirical watercolors and prints captured the social life of Georgian Britain with unparalleled wit and technical mastery. Alongside James Gillray, he is recognized as one of the greatest British graphic artists, and his distinctive flowing line and keen observations have made his work integral to understanding late 18th an...