SIEGE DE LA COLONNE DE POMPÉE - SCIENCE IN THE PILLORY, by James Gillray, March, 1799

As long as I’m posting about the Battle of the Nile and the French expedition to Egypt today, here is another print by period cartoonist James Gillray. With the destruction of his fleet at the Nile, Bonaparte had no naval support for his Egyptian campaign. This proved disastrous both in terms of tactical support and supply, and was critical to Napoleon’s defeat at the hands of Sir William Sidney Smith and the Turk at the Siege of Acre in March, 1799. Unable to capture the heavily fortified city, Napoleon scuttled back to Egypt, where he ditched what remained of his expeditionary force (already suffering from combat casualties, hunger and disease), and snuck back off to Paris.

In this scene, Gillray (claiming to base his drawing on intercepted dispatches), lampoons the corp of scientists, artists and architects that travelled to Egypt as part of Napoleon’s force, all of whom are here pictured trapped atop Pompey’s Pillar and being set upon by various natives. This is one of several plates Gillray did during and after the French expedition. The man never tired of goosing Boney with his pen and brush.