Crossing the Alps
Description:
In this image, the French army attempts to cross the Alps during the Napoleonic Wars. Front and center in the image is an Asian man sitting on a boulder. Leading away from him are the caravans of French soldiers. Each man is carrying a pack on his back, along with weapons. The trail leads to a bridge, where Napoleon seemingly advises the other men as to how to get the cannons across the bridge, which extends over a river. Of the some thirty men depicted, only three are on horseback. This includes the men who are so far in the background they are nearly stick figures. The men are high in the mountains, for the river is a long fall. The grass and few pine trees included are green.
Copyright:
Copyright 2009, Department of Special Collections, Memorial Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI
Location:
Accession Number:
CA 8938
Height (in centimeters):
11
Width (in centimeters):
19
Printing Context
The Life of Napoleon: A Hudibrastic Poem in Fifteen Cantos (1815) by William Combe (also known as Doctor Syntax)Associated Events
May-June 1800Associated Places
The passage through the Alps taken by Napoleon and his troops was on the border of Italy. While some of his men were fighting in Egypt, his troops in Italy were nearly forced out of the country.Associated Texts
This text from the book corresponds to the image:And found out that he scorn’d to praise
His brother’s arbitrary ways,
But was accustomed to declare
His principles he cou’d not bear;
This brought on Lucien some disgrace,
For Nap depriv’d him of his place,
Tho’ Lucien he was bound to thank,
For having got First Consul’s rank.
(W. Combe, Life of Napoleon Bonaparte 108)
Subject
This image primarily depicts Napoleon's attempt to lead the bedraggled French forces across the Italian Alps. More significantly, the image criticizes Napoleon's lust for wealth and power by including the decontextualized figure of the Asian man, who serves as a symbol of the common perception of Asia as a source of capital.Theme
An Asian man sits at the forefront of the image, an incongruous (or erroneous) element in the European landscape. Because Cruikshank was an educated man who lived through the Napoleonic Wars, it is likely this "error" is intentional, connotative of imperialism. A major motivation behind Napoleon’s desire for conquest was an increase in capital. At the time, Asia was characterized as a source of tea, gold, and silk, items which were considered luxury goods due to their limited quantity. Consequently, the presence of the Asian figure in the image implicitly depicts Napoleon as a seeker of wealth and power.Significance
This caricature relies (albeit subtly) on the Romantic notion of mountains as a source of the sublime: “The idea of the ‘sublime’ was associated with anything that induced feelings of awe, terror, and wonder, such as the dramatic, soaring mountain scenery that is found in the Alps” (N. King, The Romantics 61). In the print, four sets of mountains fade gradually into the distance.Function
A political caricature is intended to depict newsworthy events as they are idiosyncratically perceived by the creator; this implicit commentary often purported to respond to the silence or obfuscation perpetrated by the government. In essence, this image was anti-Napoleon propaganda. Although still a caricature, it is far less grotesque than the other images in William Combe's The Life of Napoleon: A Hudibrastic Poem in Fifteen Cantos (1815): the people are less physically distorted, and there is more historical accuracy.Bibliography
Asprey, Robert. The Reign of Napoleon Bonaparte. New York: Basic Books, 2001.Long Title
4 v. : col. fold. plates, fold. ports. ; 22 cm.Featured in Exhibit:
Engraver:
Delineator:
Image Date:
13 December 1814
Publisher:
Thomas Tegg
