Boney Turned Moralist

In this print, Thomas Rowlandson presents three chapters in the reign of Napoleon, who the British gave the pejorative nickname "Boney." At left, the "cruel tyrant" stands among the spoils of fallen European leaders. The center image portrays his circumstances when the print was made: in exile on the island of Elba, sobbing over his lost power and perhaps contemplating a revision of his life story. In the final vignette, Rowlandson imagines the emperor's death by hanging, his hat discarded at the foot of the gallows, wearing ass's ears. In fact, just months after this print was published, Napoleon escaped from Elba and returned to France to rule for another one hundred days.