Specimen of Russian chopping blocks / copied from an original Russian print ; etched by G. Cruikshank.

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George Cruikshank
1792-1878
Specimen of Russian chopping blocks / copied from an original Russian print ; etched by G. Cruikshank.
hand colored etching
image: 179 x 255 mm; plate mark: 216 x 269 mm; sheet: 232 x 285 mm
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1900.
Peel 1961
Published: 
[London] : Pubd by H. Humphrey St James's Street, 1813 January 8.
Provenance: 
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Notes: 

Lettered with title, artist's name and publication line "Copied from an Original Russian Print / Etched by G. Cruikshank/ Pubd by H. Humphrey St James's Street / Jany 8th 1813."

Summary: 

A Russian peasant-soldier raises an axe to smite a French officer who kneels on the bodies of two other officers whose skulls have been split by the axe. The Frenchman, whose uniform is smart but ragged, looks up in terror at the Russian, holding up an eagle on its staff as if to avert the blow. The Russian is bearded; he wears a belted tunic over loose breeches to the knee, and gloves. Harness-like straps support a knapsack, a cartouche-box, and a sabre. He puts one foot on the leg of the kneeling man, the other on a low rock. His high four-sided fur-bordered cap decorated with a Greek cross is on the ground. Below the design: [text in Russian] / 'So you'r the last! says this brave honest Man, Now Nap return to Russia if you can.' (This translation is a rough paraphrase; the meaning is 'There were hordes of you, weren't there? Well, that's the lot! That's what you were up to, trying to hack your way through; in future you won't give any trouble!')

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