Gillray, James (1756 – 1815) – ‘The Apotheosis of Hoche’.

'The Apotheosis of Hoche'. Hand coloured etching and aquatint. 'Pubd. 11th. 1798. by H. Humphrey, 27, St James's Street'. General Hoche died on the Rhine in 1797 and he was given a vast funeral in the Champ de Mars. Hoche defeated the counter-revolutionary invasion at Quiberon, carried out the pacification of the Vendée and was the architect of the French attempted invasions of Britain (1797) and Ireland (1796). Hoche here sits on a rainbow above a land devastated by War. He plays a Guillotine as if it were a lyre and is surrounded by Jacobin cherubs. Above them are tablets inscribed with the commandments, adapted to give opposite instructions, and above this a triangle containing the word 'Equality'. 19.75x15.25 inches.