A satire against Napoleon printed on a handkerchief

Anonymous.

Stage of Europe Dec.r 1812. Europaische Schaubuhne in December 1812.
English, c.1812. Cotton handkerchief printed in ochre colour. 775 x 870mm.

Edges frayed, two small holes in image, otherwise in fine condition.

A rare anti-Napoleon propaganda item, with nine scenes titled in English and German and four roundel portraits.
The central scene, titled as above, is a satire of Napoleon's Retreat from Moscow. It shows Napoleon being chased across a stage towards a soldier marked Prussia by Russia and Sweden. Among the jeering audience beneath the stage is a man reading a newspaper 'Dispatches from L.d Cathcart', the British General who was serving as ambassador to Russia at that time. Also on stage is Jerome Bonaparte, on his knees begging forgiveness, To the right are the crowned figures of the Confederation of the Rhine and Austria.
The surrounding eight scenes are (clockwise from bottom): ''Napoleon receiving Josephine, the cast off mistress of Barras with the command of the Army in Italy''; "Bonaparte wickedly and ungratefully depriving his Holiness the Pope of his Territorial Possessions''; ''Napoleon and the infamous Godoy defrauding Ferdinand the VII of his just rights at Bayonne''; ''Bonaparte destroying the Patriotic but unfortunate Toussaint L Overture''; ''Bonaparte after a mock trial ordering the Duke D Enghien to be shot'': ''Bonaparte meanly betraying his officers and deserting his Troops in Egypt''; ''Bonaparte ordering his Soldiers to fire upon the Turkish Prisoners at Jaffa''; and ''Bonaparte in Egypt professing himself a Mahometan, and trampling on the Bible''.
The portraits are ''T.S. Christophe One of the Ten Patriots Shot at Moscow 25 Sepr 1812''; "Schill"; ''Hoffer'' and ''Herman Friese One of the Four Patriots Shot at Bremen 5 April 1813".

VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM: T.201-1931.
Stock ID : 21941