<\/a>Thomas Rowlandson (1757\u20131827), The Devil\u2019s Darling. Hand-coloured etching, 1814. Published by Rudolph Ackermann, 12 March 1814. 1868,0808.8116<\/p><\/div>\n
Napoleon\u2019s crushing defeat at Leipzig in October 1813 and the crossing of the Franco-Spanish border by the Duke of Wellington\u2019s army, led to Napoleon\u2019s abdication in April 1814. He was exiled to the Mediterranean island of Elba, but returned in less than a year. His renewed rule lasted only 100 days before the final Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815. Lifelong exile to the remote south Atlantic island of St Helena followed.<\/p>\n
As soon as Napoleon was removed as a threat, Britain began to perceive him as something of a hero. His most prominent admirers were Lord and Lady Holland but, as the French ambassador to London later recalled, by 1822: \u2018Souvenirs of Bonaparte were everywhere; his bust adorned every mantelpiece; his portraits were conspicuous in the windows of every printseller\u2019.<\/p>\n
Our exhibition aims to show both sides of the British response to Napoleon. On the one hand, the view of him as the devious and belligerent \u2018Little Boney\u2019; on the other, admiration for his military prowess and administrative genius by those who hoped that he might rescue Europe from the excesses of the old hereditary regimes.<\/p>\n
The exhibition Bonaparte and the British: prints and propaganda in the age of Napoleon is on display in Room 90, the Prints and Drawings Gallery, until 16 August 2015.<\/p>\n
The exhibition catalogue by Tim Clayton and Sheila O\u2019Connell is available from the British Museum shop online.<\/p>\n
The British Museum have contributed several satirical cartoons to our web series Waterloo in 200 Objects. See The Plumb Pudding in Danger<\/a>\u00a0and The Devil to Pay<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is a guest article by Sheila O’Connell, British Museum Curator. See ‘Bonaparte and the British: prints and propaganda in the age of Napoleon‘ at the British Museum until 16 August 2015. On a Tuesday at the end of January, we unpacked the marvellous large bronze head of Napoleon Bonaparte made by Antonio Canova for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":3959,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
The Many Faces of Napoleon: \u2018Little Boney\u2019 or Napoleon le Grand? - Age of Revolution<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n