Ci-devant Occupations; or, Madame Talian and the Empress Josephine Dancing Naked before Barrass in the Winter of 1797. - A Fact!
Gillray's genius for political savagery is evident in this satire, which purports to show Napoleon's first meeting with Josephine. According to slanderous gossip, the young general, who peeks through the curtains at the right, first laid eyes on his future wife as she danced naked for the comte de Barras. The latter was a leading politician who had made Josephine his mistress but then had grown tired of her. According to the text below the image, Barras offered Napoleon the leadership of an Egyptian campaign if he would take the lady as well. The artist's long-standing anti-French bias was sparked, in this instance, by the recent coronation of the imperial couple in a ceremony whose excesses were widely mocked in Britain.
Artwork Details
- Title: Ci-devant Occupations; or, Madame Talian and the Empress Josephine Dancing Naked before Barrass in the Winter of 1797. - A Fact!
- Artist: James Gillray (British, London 1756–1815 London)
- Publisher: Hannah Humphrey (British, ca. 1745–1819)
- Subject: Paul François Jean Nicolas, Viscount of Barras (French, Fox-Amphoux 1755–1829 Paris)
- Subject: Joséphine, Vicomtesse de Beauharnais (French, Trois-Îlets, Martinique 1763–1814 Malmaison)
- Subject: Napoléon Bonaparte (French, Ajaccio 1769–1821 St. Helena)
- Subject: Thérésa Tallien (French, Madrid, Spain 1773–1835 Chimay, Belgium)
- Date: February 20, 1805
- Medium: Hand-colored etching
- Dimensions: sheet: 12 7/16 x 18 in. (31.6 x 45.7 cm) (clipped impression, plate line showing at left side and bottom)
- Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1917
- Object Number: 17.3.888-61
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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Multiple artists/makers
June 13, 1781
Multiple artists/makers
[1830]
James Gillray
June 19, 1780
Multiple artists/makers
after April 1785
James Gillray
Hannah Humphrey
July 16, 1805
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