A cartoonist in prison
Author:Alain De Botton
In the summer of 1831, King Louis Philippe of France was full of ambition. The political and economic turmoil of the July Revolution a year ago brought him to power, and now all this is history, and the country is in a state of prosperity and stability. Under him there was a shrewd and able leadership led by Prime Minister Casimir Périer; he inspected the north and east of his homeland and was greeted with heroism by the local middle class; he lived a lavish life in the royal palace in Paris, where banquets were held in his name every week; he enjoyed good food (especially fine foie gras and wild fowl meat); he had a large amount of private property, a wife and several children who loved him dearly.
But then something happened that cast a shadow over Louis Philip's serene mood. In late 1830, a 28-year-old unknown artist, Charles Filippo, founded a satirical magazine, Caricature, in which he drew the king's head in the shape of a pear, which he considered to be the source of widespread corruption and incompetence. Not only does Filippo's cartoons incliniously allude to the king's bloated cheeks and bulb-like forehead, but the French word for "pear" means stupid or foolish, a term he cleverly expresses a far from respectful attitude toward Louis Philip's ruling government.
The king was furious. He ordered the police to stop the magazine from being published and to buy back all the publications that had already been published at the Paris newsstand. But this did not stop Filippoon, and in November 1831 the cartoonist was indicted for "personal attack on the king" and ordered to appear in Court in Paris. Faced with a room full of people, Filippoon first thanked the prosecutor for arresting a dangerous figure like himself, but then pointed out that the government was ineffective in pursuing the king's slanderers. Most importantly, all pear-shaped things should be arrested, and even the pear itself should be locked up. The fruit grew on pear trees all over France, each of which was a criminal in need of imprisonment, Filippoon said sarcastically. But the court didn't find it funny. He was sentenced to 6 months in prison. The following year he repeated the pear joke in a new magazine, The Noise, and was sent straight back to prison—staying behind bars for two full years for painting the king as a fruit.
Thirty years ago, Napoleon Bonaparte, Europe's most powerful man, appeared equally vulnerable to a sense of humor. When he came to power in 1799, he ordered the closure of all satirical newspapers in Paris and told his chief of police, Joseph Fouché, that he would never tolerate cartoonists making fun of his appearance. He preferred to leave his appearance to Jacques-Louis David to paint. He asked the great painter to paint for him a painting of himself riding majestically on a horse and leading his army through the Alpine Pass. Napoleon was so satisfied with the painting Napoleon Crossing the St. Bernard Pass (1801) that he asked him to paint for himself the most glorious moment of his life, his coronation at Notre Dame in December 1804. This is a moment of unprecedented pomp and circumstance. The French princes and nobles gathered here, Pope Pius VII also came to watch the ceremony, and envoys from all over Europe came to congratulate him, and Jean-François Les Sueux composed music for the ceremony.
In the face of the silent people in the church, the Pope, in blessing Napoleon, said, "Vivat imperator in aeternam." David's reproduction of this scene is the Coronation of Napoleon I, completed in November 1807, and dedicated it to "My Illustrious Master". Napoleon was overjoyed, appointing David as an officer of the Legion of Honor for his "contribution to the arts", and when he pinned a medal to his chest, he said to him: "You have returned to France with high taste." ”
But not all artists viewed Napoleon the way David did. A few years before the coronation of Napoleon I was completed, the British cartoonist James Gilley also painted a painting of the same scene, titled "The Grand Coronation Procession of Napoleon, the First Emperor of France" (1805). No one made him an officer in the Legion of Honor because he had returned his tasteful taste to France.
It depicts an arrogant, bloated, high-minded emperor leading a group of devotees, elves, and prisoners. Pope Pius VII was also present, but unlike David's version, Gilley's pope carries a choir boy under his robe, and the boy is taking off his mask to reveal a devil's face. Josephine, definitely different from David's fresh and beautiful beauty, is a woman with acne on her face and fat as a balloon. Holding the emperor's mop robes in the back were the envoys of the countries conquered by Napoleon: Prussia, Spain, and the Netherlands. They don't seem to be doing it willingly. Behind them were two rows of handcuffed soldiers: this was not an emperor that the common people wanted to support. Maintaining order among the soldiers was the chief of police, Joseph Fouché, who, as Gilley explained in his caption, "held high the sword of justice," which was stained with blood.
Napoleon was on fire. He ordered Joseph Fouché, whoever found the cartoon to France, sent him directly to prison without trial. He lodged a formal diplomatic protest against Gilley through his ambassador to London, and vowed that he would look for the artist if he succeeded in occupying the island of England. His reaction was truly typical. In 1802, when bargaining with Britain over the Treaty of Amiens, Napoleon even proposed to add a clause saying that all cartoonists who had drawn him should be considered murderers or forgers and should be sent to France for trial. Puzzled, the British representative rejected the request.
This article is excerpted from Alain De Botton's Anxiety of Identity.
Luo Fat Yue:
In 1791, the United States passed the First Amendment. Ensure freedom of expression for citizens.
Even so, 7 years later, there are still editors who are jailed for taunting President Adams;
A century later, some people were sentenced to 20 years in prison for criticizing President Wilson.
It's really hard to have power and tolerate insults.
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