Prestige

Charles M. Schwab, as Napoleon, sits on a rock in the middle of the ocean, looking back at the setting sun labeled “Business Reputation.” He is holding in his right hand papers labeled “Investigation Ship Building Scandal,” and other papers labeled “Steel Trust” are in his coat pocket.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The depiction of Charles M. Schwab as an exiled Napoleon represents a troubled period in the career of an otherwise colorful success story of an American business icon. The steel executive who had worked for Andrew Carnegie and J. P. Morgan became a steel-industry entrepreneur with the acquisition of Bethlehem Steel.

Viscount Wolseley attempts to glue the tail labeled “Prestige” onto a weeping British Lion with the aid of British Prime Minister William E. Gladstone who is holding a glue pot labeled “Berber Expedition.” A large, bloody animal trap labeled “Khartoum Trap” and “El Mahdi Patent” is in the foreground.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-02-18

An injured lion, with the face of Ulysses S. Grant, lies on the ground next to a paper that states “An Appeal to the People, U.S. Grant.” Just beyond the lion is a donkey wearing a military uniform labeled “Rosecrans” and kicking up its hind legs. Caption: General Rosecrans, (Dem., of California,) thought that General Grant’s reputation had been exaggerated and misrepresented, and when history came to be written, it would be pared down to very different dimensions. –Debate on the Grant Retirement Bill in the House, Feb. 16th, 1885.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-02-25