The game of goose applied to the life of king Henri IV and the Bourbon restoration. Engraving, 1816.

"The game celebrates the Bourbon Restoration of the monarchy in France, which followed the fall of Napoleon in 1814 and continued until the July Revolution of 1830, whereby powers were conferred on the heirs of Louis XVI of the House of Bourbon (who had met his end in the Revolution). The new king styled himself Louis XVIII, itself a political act, since "Louis XVII" had in fact never reigned during the intervening period of Revolution and Empire. It is a largely classic Goose game in which the favorable goose spaces, in the usual two series, depict members of the new royal house. The other spaces trace the life of Henri IV, from his birth in 1553 in space 1 to his assassination at space 61 and his final apotheosis (drawn after an allegory by Rubens) in the winning space at 63. The propaganda message is that Henri's good name will in some way sanctify the restoration. A special rule governs landing on space 41, which portrays Louis XVIII himself: "go to dine with Henri IV", space 55, which shows him before a large fireplace in which a turkey is roasting for his supper. It is a good (if legendary) story: Henri, before the Battle of Ivry, arrived incognito at an officer's house in Alençon, where the wife did not recognize him. Lacking anything to give him for dinner, she acquired a turkey from a neighbor, who joined them for the meal. The neighbor was the local wit and so delighted Henri that he ennobled him, with the arms "a turkey in pale". Space 53 shows Henri in Paris, asking hospitality from a member of the bourgeoisie, while the previous space shows him giving a peasant a lift on his royal horse - the common touch! The death space at 58 shows the condemnation of Maréchal de Biron in 1602, who had conspired against Henri; it is (perhaps optimistically) claimed that Henri would have pardoned him had he admitted his wrongdoing. A layer of irony is added when one considers that Paul-André Basset is noticed in a post-Revolutionary almanac of 1790 for "serving his country by making caricatures against aristocrats." . Basset was evidently quite prepared to change his allegiances as the day required"--Adrian Seville, op. cit.

The contemporary or nearly contemporary portraits are: no. 36 Louis XVII; no. 41 Louis XVIII; no. 45 le Comte d'Artois (1757-1836, subsequently king Charles X); no. 50 le Duc d'Angoulême (birth date given as 1773, but apparently Louis Antoine of France, Duke of Angoulême, 1775-1844); no. 54 la Duchesse d'Angoulême (Marie-Thérèse Charlotte of France, 1778-1851); no. 59 le Duc et la Duchesse de Berri

A Paris (rue St Jacques no. 64) : chez Basset, [1816]

1 print : engraving ; image 44.7 x 59.4 cm

Jeu royal de la vie d'Henri IV ... Deposé au Bureau des estampes

Bibliographie de la France, 23 novembre 1816, no. 948 "Jeu royal de la vie de Henri IV. A Paris, chez Basset"

Adrian Seville, The royal game of the goose: four hundred years of printed board games. Catalogue of an exhibition at the Grolier Club, February 23-May 14, 2016

Wellcome Collection 2969770i