1811

Nursing the Spawn of a Tyrant or Frenchmen Sick of the Breed

British, 1756 - 1827

The Empress Marie Louise, Austrian princess and second wife of Napoleon, is so appalled by her son Napoleon II's behavior that a bishop gives her a glass of "composing draught." The child's features resemble those of his father, who looks on. The print is one of many anti-Napoleonic caricatures published by British artists during the lengthy wars between Britain and France, when no opportunity was lost to invent propaganda that amplified British virtue and denigrated French power.