Spanish-Patriots Attacking the French-Banditti– Loyal Britons Lending a Lift
Gillray created this dynamic satire to celebrate a Spanish-British victory over an overwhelmingly superior enemy at the Battle of Bailén in southern Spain, during the Peninsular War (1807–14). His dynamic conception encapsulates a rare defeat for French occupying forces on July 16–19, 1808.
In the left background, members of a Spanish outpost fire at fleeing opponents below while, in the middle distance, a trumpet-blowing monk on horseback rallies followers with the help of a bishop armed with sword and crosier. Greatest attention is given to a series of foreground skirmishes. These center on enraged nuns who engage soldiers in hand-to-hand combat, one grasping the hair of a French general whose tall thin physique identifies him as Pierre Dupont de l’Étang. Near barrels of British gunpowder at left, Spanish men and women dressed in old fashioned attire load a canon while, at right,a sturdy British grenadier bayonets emaciated French soldiers and tramples a tricolour flag lettered "Invincible Legion." The latter gruesome grouping embodies the "lift" of the title in a vebal-visual pun typical of Gillray's unflinching wit (see 2015.455 for a related drawing).
In the left background, members of a Spanish outpost fire at fleeing opponents below while, in the middle distance, a trumpet-blowing monk on horseback rallies followers with the help of a bishop armed with sword and crosier. Greatest attention is given to a series of foreground skirmishes. These center on enraged nuns who engage soldiers in hand-to-hand combat, one grasping the hair of a French general whose tall thin physique identifies him as Pierre Dupont de l’Étang. Near barrels of British gunpowder at left, Spanish men and women dressed in old fashioned attire load a canon while, at right,a sturdy British grenadier bayonets emaciated French soldiers and tramples a tricolour flag lettered "Invincible Legion." The latter gruesome grouping embodies the "lift" of the title in a vebal-visual pun typical of Gillray's unflinching wit (see 2015.455 for a related drawing).
Artwork Details
- Title: Spanish-Patriots Attacking the French-Banditti– Loyal Britons Lending a Lift
- Subject: James Gillray (British, London 1756–1815 London)
- Publisher: Hannah Humphrey (British, ca. 1745–1819)
- Subject: Joseph Bonaparte, King of Naples and Spain (French, 1768–1844)
- Subject: Ferdinand VII, King of Spain (Spanish, El Escorial 1784–1833 Madrid)
- Subject: Pierre Dupont de l'Étang (French, 1765–1840)
- Date: August 15, 1808
- Medium: Hand-colored etching
- Dimensions: sheet (trimmed to plate line): 10 3/4 x 15 1/4 in. (27.3 x 38.7 cm)
- Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1917
- Object Number: 17.3.888-81
- 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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