German Nonchalence, or the Vexation of Little Boney
This print is loosely based on an incident in November 1802 involving Ludwig, Count Starhemberg, Austrian Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to England. The story was likely recounted to Gillray directly by Starhemberg himself who was a frequent customer of Hannah Humphrey's shop, and, like Gillray, a great fan of the theater. There is otherwise no account of the incident in newspapers or journals Gillray might have seen. Indeed the only records I've found relating to the Count in the contemporary London press are accounts of theatricals in which he and his family all participated at his seat in Twickenham. (Morning Chronicle, Jan. 12, 1802, p.3. and Morning Post, Jan. 3, 1803, p. 3.)
© Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University
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According to the entry for Starhemberg in German Biography, the story was this: the diplomat had concluded a longer than usual summer vacation in his native Austria, and he was on his way back to London, making stops along the way in Munich, Stuttgart, and Paris. But when he got to the Austrian Embassy hotel in Paris, he found a note from French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Talleyrand expressing Buonaparte's displeasure with him, and his insistence that Starhemberg leave Paris immediately. There was no specific reason given, but Starhemberg could only assume that it was revenge for expressing his unguarded opinions of the First Consul in conversations outside Paris.
Gillray has great fun with the story, creating for the first time an image of an increasingly paranoid and insecure "little Boney" dwarfed by his bodyguards, who cannot contain his vexation with Starhemberg's impertinence.
Ha, diable! _va't'en! Impertinent! _va't'en! _is dere von Man on Earth who not Worship little Boney? __Soldats! aux Armes! revenge! _ah sacre dieu! - je suis tous Tremblans
Meanwhile Starhembeg is unperturbed, casually taking snuff, as his coach speeds on its way back to London.
The print is one of only a few listed as being published by Gillray himself rather than Hannah Humphrey or some other publisher. This lends credence to the suggestion by Andrew Edmunds, mentioned as part of the British Museum commentary, that the print may never been "for sale" in the usual way, but intended as a gift from Gillray to Starhemberg as a thank you for his continued business. And it is hardly suprising, given the wit and quality of the design, that Starhemberg would have acquired multiple copies of this delightful caricature for potential distribution to his friends.
Sources and Reading
- Commentary from the British Museum on German Nonchalence, or the Vexation of Little Boney.
- Tim Clayton & Sheila O'Connell, Bonaparte and the British, 2015, #52, p. 110.
- Draper Hill, Mr. Gillray The Caricaturist, 1965,p.127, Pl 121
- "Ludwig Graf Starhemberg," German Biography
- "Napoleon," Wikipedia
- "Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord," Wikipedia
- Thomas Wright and R.H. Evans, Historical and Descriptive Account of the Caricatures of James Gillray #270.
- Thomas Wright and Joseph Grego, The Works of James Gillray, the Caricaturist; With the History of His Life and Times, p. 291.
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