Print of the Day: Souvenirs & Regrets, 1870

Napoleon III depicted as a pig.
"Souvenirs and Regrets," 1870
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This satirical print depicts France’s Napoleon III, wearing a dunce's cap, with his lower body drawn as that of a pig, limping along on crutches and dragging an eagle behind him, en route for Cassel.

In the right background is a sign-post marked “Route de Cassel.”  This refers to Kassel, Germany (near Hesse) where Napoleon III, in 1870, was sent as a prisoner in the Castle of Wilhemshohe after the Battle of Sedan.  He was released after the preliminaries of peace were signed by France and Prussia.  Kassel was also the home of the Brothers Grimm.

This print is from a set of caricatures, broadsheets and illustrations in ten volumes.  It was made in Paris, France between 1870 and 1871 by Napoléon Charles Louis , De Frondat (born 1846) as the caricaturist a man called only Barousse as lithographer.

The illustration is accompanied by the following inscription:

SOUVENIRS & REGRETS Ah!  Mon chapeau plein de lard et mon
aigle de Boulogne ou êtes vous !

This loosely translates to… “Ah!  My hat full of bacon and my eagle of Boulogne, where are you!”