Buonaparte massacreing fifteen hundred persons at Toulon

The citizens of Toulon kneel in supplication in the lower left portion of the image. Their faces are marked by physiognomic representations of horror, shock, and despair. French soldiers led by two cavalry officers swarm onto the scene at the right of the image. The ranks arrive with menacing bayonets and cannon, one of which fires on the kneeling crowd. A woman who holds a baby kneels in the front of a group of men. The reference here is to the Sabine women who in classical literature sacrificed themselves and their children in order to stop a battle. Jacques-Louis David also depicted this event in a celebrated history painting titled "The Intervention of the Sabine Women." The sheet in the Hay Library collection is printed with a variety of techniques that include stipple and aquatint along with line engraving. The use of stipple and aquatint adds texture and depth to the image. In addition, the two techniques are rarely used in inexpensive engravings, especially caricature and satire. However they are combined in some of the more accomplished satiric prints and caricatures by artists such as James Gillray. The citizens of Toulon kneel in supplication in the lower left portion of the image. Their faces are marked by physiognomic representations of horror, shock, and despair. French soldiers led by two cavalry officers swarm onto the scene at the right of the image. The ranks arrive with menacing bayonets and cannon, one of which fires on the kneeling crowd. A woman who holds a baby kneels in the front of a group of men. The reference here is to the Sabine women who in classical literature sacrificed themselves and their children in order to stop a battle. Jacques-Louis David also depicted this event in a celebrated history painting titled "The Intervention of the Sabine Women." The sheet in the Hay Library collection is printed with a variety of techniques that include stipple and aquatint along with line engraving. The use of stipple and aquatint adds texture and depth to the image. In addition, the two techniques are rarely used in inexpensive engravings, especially caricature and satire. However they are combined in some of the more accomplished satiric prints and caricatures by artists such as James Gillray. This sheet is not dated. Although it is included among satires and caricatures of the Napoleonic era, the subject and handling of this image falls into neither category. Instead, it depicts the horrors of war. Inscription: From a design by Mr. R. K. Porter.