'The Cat's Paw', 1832. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord, French ambassador to the United Kingdom, grapples with British prime minister Lord Palmerston, depicted as a cat. Talleyrand, who appears to have a rat's tail, holds the cat's paw over a hot stove, with the words 'Belgium' and 'Antwerp' written on hot coals. To make a cat's paw of someone means to use them as a tool or instrument to accomplish one's purpose. Satirical cartoon by '' (John Doyle). [Thomas McLean, London, 1832]

---

Size: 3565px × 4653px
Photo credit: © The Print Collector / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: ., .., 19th, 3rd, alfred, ambassador, animal, animals, belgium, benevent, benevento, britain, british, caricature, cartoon, cat, cats, century, charle, charles, charles-maurice-elie, color, colour, concept, country, de, doyle, ducote, duc¶te, ducôte, duke, feline, felines, forcing, france, french, guy, hb, heat, henry, hot, humour, international, john, lithograph, location, lord, male, man, maurice, mclean, men, minister, nineteenth, palmerston, people, perigord, political, politician, politicians, politics, prime, prince, relations, satire, statesman, stove, taleyrand, talleyrand-perigord, talleyrand-érigord, temple, thomas, thos, viscount, éévent